Diablo: Story of Natalie
by Vawns Maxwell
Summary: Natalie is pulled into the Diablo realm


*A/N* HEY ALL you will never guess it but OMG I don't own Blizzard Entertainment and I don't own the rights to the game 'Diablo' 'Diablo II' or 'Diablo II: lord of Destruction (NO SHIT!) If I did own any of that then I probably would be rolling in cash and not writing this at all. If your name is Natalie Rosewinger than I am really sorry for using your name and it is probably a coincidence unless you are the person in my tag class (which I know you aren't cause her name starts with a 'B') that I think looks just like the assassin from Diablo II If your name is Cbiscut then I truly pity you for having the name of a racehorse but I use it for my paladin in battle net and since my CD is busted he will probably be gone next time I sign on (and he was a slayer too soblaugh, laughgiggle are you going to the track tonight?" Natalie hit Natasha again. ~¤~ The track was quiet but she knew he was there somewhere. She looked from one goal to the other. No one else was out there except for people going home. She thought se saw a flicker of movement from the corner of her eye but looked and saw nothing. "Maybe it is best if you do not search him out." "You better show yourself whatever you are! I'm tired of talking to something I can't see." She said in the direction of where she saw the flicker. "This one sees no reason to do as you have.commanded and this one thinks that you will listen to it because you want it's advice. You are not in a position to be making orders my child!" Natalie closed her eyes and listened for the thing's footsteps but heard two sets instead of one. She opened her eyes and looked to the closest set and saw a shadowy figure. She had felt him watching her and knew he was out here. He knew that she had known but had kept in hiding. "You can come out." She said to him. He made no reply. All of a sudden she felt all her limbs lighten until there was no weight at all. She felt pushed backward slowly then flipped to look at the ground. She was pulled up and then thrown towards the ground at breakneck speed. She tried to scream but it was cut off. It may have been the speed of movement or another strange force that cut off her voice and pushed out all the air in her lungs but she couldn't breathe or move against the push. She was trapped and only one thought crossed her mind, 'I'm going to die.' A familiar voice came into her head, "Die? This one thinks not! If you die then this one wonders how he has managed to pass from world to world before. Wouldn't you? This one insures your safety and pleads that you will stop fighting it. Rest is what you need." With those words Natalie fell asleep. ~¤~ Natalie woke up with a headache like she had spent the night drinking or got high or something else they always said gave you headaches. She looked around the field and saw a cat like figure up in a tree. It made no movement so she could not be sure if it was actually there. The clouds were covering the sky and she was surrounded by darkness. "This one sees you.but thus one knows that you see it too." The cat figure jumped out of the tree and nimbly landed on its feet. The catlike tail swished from side to side as it walked towards her. It was pitch black but seemed to emit a strange light, "This one will help you as he can child." She reached out and stroked the cat-person's head in between his pointed ears. It purred softly then came back to its guard, "This one has much to tech and you have much to learn. It is advised that the child take the lesson and learn it well. On the morning you asked interesting questions, but the wrong ones all the same. You should have asked what the dream was like the other one.the boy with no name.He was fast with his questions and asked the right ones to know what he needed to know." Natalie blinked and saw a hazy world. A boy sat in a bed, the boy she had seen. He talked the cat-person who sat on a shelf. The boy asked questions, "What was that dream?" "A premonition of things to come and things that have already come." "Where?" "A world called sanctuary." "Who was the girl?" "It is uncertain." "Why choose me?" "You were not chosen, you were destined to fulfill this role." "Why?" "Destiny is a tricky thing, it is hard to foresee and even harder to understand once it had chosen its task." "But I didn't see you in the dream, are you destined to die?" "All things die but it is not I who can foresee when or how or even understand the meaning of when or how. I must leave for now.have fun at school little one." Natalie blinked back into real life, "You understand now?" "Not a bit but I am gonna have to find that boy to do any more." "Good work child! You are smarter than I first assumed. You surprise even me!" The creature smiled a toothy grin and faded into the shadows. Some beaten and battered men came from all around moaning and groaning with every movement, "What are these?" "Ghouls, they will attract the attention of the boy you know a Cbiscut. Of course you will have to survive until he arrives but I have great faith in you my child." She raised her fists to chest level, "If it is a fight they want." She struck out at them with bear fists and kicks. Her leather pants limited some movement of her legs but she could still kick to chest level. Her tank top and jacket offered little defense against the monsters, it was highly needed defense that she made up for with strikes to the monsters' flailing arms. She struck down one of three before she started to tire. The two remaining ghouls struck at her and she lost some of that defense that she worked so hard to make up for. She felt a strike fall on her arm and tear through the jacket. Another ghoul entered the scuffle and she was overpowered the beast pushed her to the ground and started beating and tearing at her. She closed her eyes and passed out. ~¤~ He felt the presence of the cat and opened his eyes. He got up from prayer and looked for the demon, "What can you tell me now?" "Natalie is in peril." "What! The girl? This is all, my fault! If only I had better spells or a more accurate town portal scroll or knew her full name.all, my fault. We have to save her!" "She was attacked by ghouls little one. There was nothing I could do." He saw it now. The small shadows on the front pews in the church, "Demon if you are-" "This one sees no threat, after all I am little more than a messenger. If you hope to live long enough to see a real demon you will need help, from the girl, and from me! The same goes for me. I will need your help to see a real demon like the lord of terror himself. In a way you are lucky because of your dreams. You know what to expect and you will not only be able to see a demon once and live to tell about it because of your dream but you will see it twice." The demon made a point, "I am the great Cbiscut! You have nothing to fear demon." With that he was off to find the girl, Natalie. She was very pretty and trained in martial arts but she had never even come close to seeing what he had seen in the few days he had been in transit between worlds. So what if he had shared the dream with her. He knew what it meant and from what the demon had told him she did not. He did not smile at that. It just meant more explaining he would have to do. He ran out of the rouge encampment and into the blood moor. He searched for any sight of the girl of the ghouls but a heavy fog had moved in. He heard the sounds of ghouls beating at there pray. He ran and slashed through two of them and allowed the third to escape. He looked at another body that seemed to have taken battery damage to the head and chest. "A girl did that sort of thing to a ghoul while being attacked by another three!" "Two actually the third joined in as she was being defeated." "It is still quite the task for one untrained girl to do on her own." He saw Natalie. Her jacket had been shredded but the leather pants seemed untouched as well as her tank top. Her arms were cut lightly at some points but mostly just scuffed up. Her cheeks had taken some scuffing and bled lightly on the right side. Cbiscut took a damp towel and lightly dabbed at her cheeks and the cuts and scuffs on her arms, "She is beautiful.even more so than the dream." He felt for a pulse and found one, then put a hand about an inch above her face and felt for her breath. She was alive. Be bent down and was about to kiss her when she opened her eyes and screamed. ~¤~ "Please stop it makes it harder to carry you." Natalie screamed and kicked at him again, "PUT ME DOWN!" The cat-person reappeared in front of her and looked into her eyes. She went silent. She stopped trying to struggle and order her way out of the man's grip. She looked into the yellow eyes of the cat-person and saw a great beauty. She snapped back to the real world and screamed again, "Will you please shut her up!" "This one tried, she is more willful than any of the powers expected. She is perfect for facing great evils, don't you agree?" "I think she is gonna be dead before we make it back if she doesn't calm down so I can carry her! I am not here to do this stupid job so that she can try to kick my chest in after I save her!" Natalie stopped screaming, "You did WHAT?" "Yes, yes here it comes the I'm not totally defenseless speech then she will start kicking again like the rouge I rescued." "Why did you do it? I mean why did you save me?" "Huh? Because you are important to saving this world and getting us back to ours." She pouted, "I thought you liked me for my looks and were gonna kiss me for a minute there." He blushed deep red, "Well I was just.uh." She hoped out of his grip and walked behind him, never missing a beat, "You just what?" She saw him blush a deeper red and kissed his cheek. "WHA!" The cat snickered as it faded away again, "It would seem that you have an admirer little one." Natalie blushed a little, "I was totally defenseless against those monsters.they had me down and I thought I was going to die. Then a bright white night came and saved me. I am in your debt sir night." "Quickly now we must hurry if we are to make it back to the camp in time." Natalie jumped into Cbiscut's arms, "Will you carry me? Please." "Uh.all right but only once. I'm feeling nice this time. You might be hurt." "So brave sir knight, what is your real name?" Natalie said as she traced the twisting pattern on his light breastplate. "My real name is not important. Cbiscut is all you will need to call me." "So secretive." She purred into his ear. Heh, heh, heh, this is funny demon but if you don't tell me what happened to her, I swear I'll- his thought was broken by the thoughts of another. You will do nothing little one and you will learn well the lessons that I teach. I remember requesting that you not threaten me and if you continue to do so I may be forced to take measures of my own to make sure that you do indeed do nothing. The voice sounded so casual about it's threats. May I remind you- "The camp we are there." The demon faded from sight like it had before and walked close behind Cbiscut to hide his shadow. Cbiscut came back into the real world and looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms. He looked back into the camp and walked in, "So much for so little.I doubt her looks will save us in the end.and they defiantly will not save this world. Why did we even save her?" "Because.you may be the chosen one but three there are to challenge three there must be to defend." "Well then where is good old number three, or is that you?" "Three, not I but you have met him.in your dreams my child." "Stop calling me that!" "This one does not refer to you young master. This one refers to the girl from the legends. The one that will save us all. You carry her in your arms." "But then why does she seem all drugged up after just making contact with some stupid ghouls." "You fail to see that which is right in front of you." "You did this? But why?" "My child needed rest so I offered." "You two aren't related really are you?" The cat-person's voice crackled up again, "No, of course not." "Stop laughing at me demon. I was asking a serious question." "This one knows, this one knows.this one saw your question to be a jest at first. Maybe we should leave the girl." "Yes maybe you are right." ~¤~ Natalie woke up. She felt normal but recalled all of what she did while that Cbiscut guy was carrying her here, "Oh my god, I was a total ass! I dunno what happened but it made me do this." She was lying on her side in a bed that wasn't hers. She looked over her shoulder to find what she was afraid of. She saw the Cbisctut guy but unlike her he wasn't wearing a shirt. She didn't look under the covers but was glad to feel that her pants were still on. Okay I know you are here you stupid cat- person and I know that you can hear my thoughts so listen to me! I need you to get me out of here. She thought. "Our beloved cat-person isn't the only person who can hear your thoughts. Don't worry I just want to sleep. Oh please just don't scream I really don't need that in the morning." Said the voice of Cbiscut. She almost screamed but held back and talked to him instead in a somewhat panicked voice, "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?" "Because I am trying to sleep like you should be." "Why are we in the same bed?" "Because there is only one and you were already fast asleep when I finished eating and I am not going to be put out of my bed by a girl, chosen one or not." "Where is cat-person?" He rolled over to look at her, "Out hunting I suspect but he could be here somewhere." "How long have I been here?" "All night." "Did I do anything strange when whatever happened to me?" "Yes." "What?" "You kissed my cheek, hopped into my arms and went to sleep." "Why didn't you stop me?" He blushed and she could tell even in the dark, "I dunno" "I'll scream if you don't tell me." "I really don't know pleas don't-" She started all with a soft scream that could have been a moan. "No please don't" She screamed a little loader. "Please I am begging you to not do this I have told you all I know about it." She screamed loader, and then it was drown out as he kissed her. She tried to scream past it but had no luck. She tried to pull free but was pushed down. He broke off, "Now don't scream any more." Another set of hidden eyes watched carefully as Natalie blinked twice inhaled to scream but was stopped just before she could as Cbiscut raise a hand. "Don't do it!" She exhaled slowly keeping her eyes on him, "DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT TO-" She was pushed back down and looked into the solemn eyes of Cbiscut. They were green/gray eyes that looked back at her. She looked back into her ushered by instinct to scream ushered by fear to keep quiet. He did not smile at her. It was just a dull look. "Okay." She said not saying anything else. He rolled off of her and faced the window again. Natalie looked straight up into the roof and did not go to sleep from fear of what Cbiscut might do. The cat jumped down from the top shelf unnoticed. "Have a good sleep young master. Come my child!" The cat-person beckoned to Natalie. She followed him carefully making sure that he didn't get to far ahead. She didn't want to be right behind him either. The cat-person looked back at her after reaching the gates of the camp. She almost smiled as he looked back at her. "The young master has seen many things.you have made him think of positive ones. This one congratulates you .He feels for you and I believe that you feel the same. This one needs to know, it is important my child." She stopped smiling, "So you dragged me out here in the middle of the night to find out if I have the hots for some guy I just met. I don't need this I'm going back to the camp." She turned to go back to the camp. "So do you?" She hadn't been expecting that not even from a demon. She shivered slightly against the wind and against his interrogation. So what if I even do like him? It doesn't matter I am gonna get out of here and then I will be all right and far away from anyone in this stupid world. Why don't they just save themselves? "They do not have the power that you have. They cannot fight for themselves and Cbiscut may need your help more than he admits too. I know the truth about you my child and you do have deep feelings for the boy. I read you like a book." "Then stop reading me like a book! I don't want you to read me like a book! I don't want Cbiscut to know that I love him or-" She stopped. And the cat smiled at her, "I didn't just say that." "Say what my child? Say that you love the young master? I believe you did." "Then forget it I don't want you to even think it for all I know he can read your thoughts too!" She almost begged the cat-person to forget about it and leave her alone for once. "This one will not let him read that thought but you will tell him the truth won't you?" "NO! He won't find out!" The cat-person put his hand on her shoulder, "He will find out if he hasn't already. You know it but want to hide it from him for as long as you can anyway. Unfortunately for you, the young master reads minds." "Then I will just stop thinking it." She felt amazingly light and then fell asleep. The cat-person had done this before but always had some reason. She slept and slept and didn't want to wake up. ~¤~ She woke up. She was back in the bed. She looked over at Cbiscut, can he tell? She asked herself. She looked down at what she was wearing and found it was a nightgown that was a little bit tight. Natalie looked at Cbiscut's back. He rolled over and smiled at her. She looked at him but didn't smile. "It is okay, you didn't wake me. Of course that it the least of your worries isn't it. You couldn't care less if I woke up because of your noisy thoughts." She looked at him saying nothing then got up and walked over to the window. The cat-eyes watched her move. She felt the eyes on her; they felt as if they were cutting into her very soul. She looked back at the door and ran. She made it down the stairs before something stopped her. A man, no this couldn't be he had to be undead like the ghouls that had attached her. She could see the bleached bones even if they were too close together to see past. The skull for a head even with its horns at either side grabbed her thoughts as just a defense. It raised a hand against her and pushed her to the ground. She saw its weapon on its back, which was massive two-handed-sword. It reached down at her and grabbed her arms. "NO!" She screamed, "NO, I can't die." It pulled her up and sat her down in one of the pews of the church. It looked at her and then called upstairs in a feminine voice, "Marcel, are you here? I think the girl was trying to run away." A shadow in a corner turned into the cat-person, "This one knows. She fears the young master. Wouldn't you?" The thing that held her down pulled back its mask and looked at the cat- person, "uh-huh, now Marcel, mind telling me where the young master is?" "Upstairs but I expect he will be coming down soon to catch up with Natalie here. My child, have I explained nothing! You will come to no harm in the presence of the young master." Cbiscut stepped down the stairs, "She does not fear any harm coming to her. She fears something else. Natalie Rosewinger fears that I, The great Cbiscut will tie her down to the bed and make love to her while she sleeps. She fears that she may wake up beside me in the nude. Her mind screams every time she wakes up!" The thing was a girl with blonde hair. Hair so blonde it was white, "N-Natasha?" She smiled, "Well Natie looks like that Cbiscut kid wasn't out to date you after all." She chuckled lightly. "How long did you know?" Natalie asked. "I didn't Natie. I was pulled here by Marcel over there, after he used your power to make a portal to our world. That is why you felt sleepy he tells me. Sorry for the tight clothes and all I know they are a little flowery for your taste but it is all I had with me. I have another change if you want but it might be a little tight and a little revealing." She bent down to Natalie's ear level and whispered, "Of course being revealing might not be so bad with prince charming over there." Natasha winked innocently and then got up to her full. She still wore that bone armor, "I'm a necromancer, I raise dead stuff which sounds really dirty but it is kind of cool. They tell me that if I get high enough with my powers I will be able to raise demons and monsters and stuff." "Like the great Horizon himself." "But why were we chosen, Marcel?" "Destiny." "Then why three of us, there has to be some logical reason." "Three champions to face three great evils." Cbiscut put on his last piece of armor on the bottom step, "What are the three great evils, and don't go with some short stuff to keep us thinking." "The prime evils. Mephesto, Baal, and the lord of terror from your dreams, Diablo." "Tell us about Diablo." Natalie was getting up. "Diablo is the youngest of the prime evils. He was banished from hell along with his brothers by the lesser evils. He was incased in a soul stone as well as Mephesto. Ball escaped the soul stone by destroying it but was trapped within a shard of it. The demon was contained in the mage, Tal- Rasha and he was sealed in a tomb to battle with the demon for all eternity. Mephesto's soul stone was hidden and lost hopefully forever. The lord of hatred was a terror and a destroyer to all humans. No one could control the power and few could even conceive the destructive powers beyond the walls of the small stone. Diablo was buried deep under the town of Tristram. The archbishop Lazarus discovered his soul stone deep under the monastery. He had all of the fighters in the city killed against a demon called the butcher. The prince was sacrificed to be the host of the lord of terror. King Leoric went insane and was killed by his own disciples. The dark king was raised as a necromancer skeleton king with a massive two- handed-sword. His crown drained life with every strike and he was a challenge. We had two champions from sanctuary who were willing to give their lives in order to save the town. We only had two, one a skilled sorcerer and the other a skilled rogue. The third was brought from your world, a ruthless warrior. He defeated the butcher and the skeleton king. He went further and further down helping the towns people and defeating monsters that couldn't possibly be described even in nightmares. The archbishop Lazarus was defeated with skill and cunning instinct on the warrior's part while the rogue and sorcerer stopped any demons from attacking the warrior and distracting him from his goal. The lord of terror was said to be defeated after that in a battle deep under the surface of the earth. It was all supposed to end there but as when the dark lord lay dead on the ground, the warrior cut out the soul stone. The rogue and the sorcerer were none the wiser when the dark lord turned back to the boy prince. The warrior screamed his own battle cry against the echoes of the dark lord's death cry. The warrior had a small gouge on his forehead but it was always assumed that it was inflicted by Diablo before he made his passing. A short while after the final bout with Diablo demons started to raise again. The people of Tristram looked to their saviors but the rouge had gone back to the rouge encampment and the sorcerer was found dead. The warrior stood at the remains of the monastery and then walked out to the east. Little is known about the fall of Tristram. We must find Decard Cain." "Wow.deep story." Natalie was half surprised half not even caring about it, "I only have one more question, who changed my clothes while I was asleep?" Natasha smiled, "Well I tried to get prince charming to do it but he refused and said that it was a woman's job so I did it." "Oh." Natalie's face filled with understanding and relief, "So when do I get armor?" "When you find something weak enough to kill they drop some pretty cool stuff when they die." Natalie got up, "Alright, on to the first quest." ~¤~ Natalie dressed herself in the tight not so revealing cloths of her friend. The more revealing cloths were what she planned to wear at night when no one was around. Natasha had bought all the clothes she would need in town and planned to find anything else she needed. Natalie wore a sleeveless shirt that came down just pasted her belly button. The pants were jeans that were very low and the shirt would have come down to any normal pair of pants but these were super lows and left a lot of flesh open. She still wore the black leather boots the zipped up the side. The heel wasn't that big so she could still run without much effort. As soon as she could she was going to switch into armor, any armor. A group of ghouls attacked yielding nothing armor wise but a cap that Natalie was unwilling to take. She took the weapons that they dropped though. A hand weapon with three deadly talons and a buckler as Cbiscut called it that was a beaten up piece of round metal that served as a shield. The next set of demons, were a camp of short red demons that were raised by another one with horns. They dropped leather armor and enough that she could get out of Natasha's clothes. She did so behind a tree so that no one could see her. She stepped out from behind the tree zipping up the top and putting Natasha's clothes in her backpack. "Happy now? I was just trying to get C.B. here to give you a good look and then maybe-" "Don't. I don't know what you think about him and me but don't." "And besides I think the leather is better on her anyway." Natalie blushes and Natasha opened her mouth, which is always a mistake for her, "Oh so you want her more now that she is in skin tight leather?" Cbiscut was so caught off guard that he answered truthfully, "Yes." Natalie blushed a deep red now wishing that she hadn't picked up the armor. Cbiscut blushed deep red now wishing that he had thought about his answer. Natasha laughed at the two of them blushing and turned around. "Where are you going?" "Back to town so I can leave you two lovebirds here to do whatever you want." Natalie looked at Cbiscut and Cbiscut looked at Natalie then it dawned on them. They ran after Natasha threatening her life and throwing rocks. The cat laughed lightly and followed silently. ~¤~ She watched Natasha's chest rise up and down slowly. She listened to her snore ever so slightly, "Just like a slumber party." She got up out of the bed and went upstairs to Cbiscut's room. She opened the door and snuck in without making a sound. She made no thoughts other than something about a better place to sleep. She slipped under the covers where Cbiscut lay with nothing above his waist. He more light pants but she had never seen anything beneath them nor did she desire to. Cbiscut was silent when he slept but he rolled a little more than normal people when he was having a dream. He shivered slightly then rolled. His arm lay across her waist and he woke up and looked into her eyes, "Couldn't sleep so you decided to make sure I didn't either?" She thought about why she had come up here, I can't sleep with her she is so noisy, and plus I have the hots for you like the cat said. "Alright you can sleep here. It will be quiet." He made no response to the rest of it. Was he ignoring the fact that she thought he was hot? Was he waiting to play his cards and say he liked her? She had to know. "Are you in love with me?" He said nothing appearing to be asleep. WAKE UP YOU SON OF A- her thoughts were interrupted by the subtle thoughts of another. Wow, she is so hot, but there is no way I can tell her. To show her that I had feelings like that for her would be to show weakness. She can't know I am weak. No that would be too much. I'm glad I can block out though now I can at least get some rest. Cbiscut did not move his hand off of her waist like she was expecting him to when she heard his thoughts, Get a grip on yourself Natie he is just a guy, he probably doesn't even like you that much. Even if he did he has no idea that you know that he does. She moved a little closer to him and went to sleep. ~¤~ She woke up and felt no body heat other than her own. She was almost sad that he had left but knew that he didn't really think that much of her at all. She got out of bed and out of the sluttish clothes that Natasha wore. The top was pretty much a bikini top and the skirt was a super short skirt. She shook her head and searched for a mind. A mind she had felt before. She knew how to search. She opened a field of search to the entire city and looked for the voice that she knew so well. She looked and came to something. It made her mind scream with pain and every nerve flair, I am Alpha One. You have already failed. Now you will know true power. She fell over and tried desperately to break the connection. It hurt. This mind was so powerful it seemed evil. She heard it laughing and screamed out. Cbiscut ran to her, "Are you okay?" The laughter died suddenly, "He comes.He is a super power. I was just looking for your mind so I knew where you went. He sensed it or something and grabbed me. It hurt. His mind was so powerful." "Who? Whose mind?" "He called himself Alpha One." Cbiscut made no moves at all he closed his eyes and searched. She felt his mind pass over her and then keep going. He opened his eyes, "A mind that could cause you that much pain must be an extreme power. It should stick out like a black cloud in a spotless sky!" "I felt it. I swear." "I know you felt it. I heard your mental scream before your physical one. I ran as soon as I heard the mental one. You must have caused people to have shivers go up and down their backbones for miles." The echoes stayed in her mind 'I am Alpha One. You have already failed. Now you will feel true power.' She shivered. ~¤~ A girl walked out of the city. The beasts had been defeated. She was just collecting berries. She wasn't going to go to far anyway. She skipped along to a berry patch and started picking. A shadow close behind her became more solid and then became that of a wolf that stood on its back legs and left its front left to attack like arms. The blast came into her mind, I am Alpha One, Turn and face me child! The girl turned and dropped her berries. The wolf smiled a toothy grin at her; I need you to help me. If you listen and do exactly as I say then you will see this place again as it is. You will not be harmed in any way if you accept however if you refuse and are caught in the way of my task then I can no longer protect you from the savage beast within. The girl shook her head; it has come to my attention that you have psychic powers my girl. You will send a message for me to all that can use psychic mind waves and that includes me. Tell them that you are in danger outside of the rogue camp and if they do not surrender then the camp will fall. ~¤~ Natalie ran out into the wilderness in search of the call. She had told the others that she was searching for better armor and weapons. They hadn't got the psychic call and She didn't want to pull them into it. She looked around outside and saw her. The little brunette girl stood there. There was a dark aura around her. The aura turned into a wolf-man and tapped the girl's shoulder. She ran trying desperately to escape. The wolf- man raised his hand up into the air and two wolves materialized in front of him. You are a threat to everyone around you! I am almost glad you came alone. This world is doomed but you cannot return home. I will tear you apart and send you that way. I will kill you girl and you have no chance to stop me. Give up your life or give up the camp behind you? "I will not give up. DO YOU HEAR ME? NEVER!" She threw herself at him but was topped by a force field and bounced back to earth. She looked as he ducked down in almost a crouch spreading his arms out to either side of his body. He brought his arms up and almost made a clap but stopped just as his fingers touched. Not give up? Do you plan to fight to the end? If you don't then you will be torn apart, if you do then my request is simple. SHOW ME YOU CAN FIGHT! SHOW ME YOU CAN SAVE THIS WORLD! Her mind hurt and her ears rung. She heard charging footsteps and a lot of them. Demons are in every part of the horizon. Show me your power child. You cannot win but you will fight anyway. I see it in you. He gave a toothy growl at her, 'Now you will know what the demons are capable of. If you do survive then you will know how powerful the horrors can be. You will know what it feels like to fight your way through a dank tomb of monstrous beasts and only when you are so exhausted that you can no longer fight come upon another demon of superior power. Fear this mortal! Learn to embrace the fear and you may survive. "I will survive and when all is done you will too." She said as if it was nothing at all. If that is what you see for the future you will live a very short life. It will end today and no one will know. No one will know right away. Then they will find out and weep and their tears will cover your grave. Then there will be less and less tears. Slowly you will be forgotten as just another victim of the demons attacks. You have failed mortal. You have all failed! You have failed each other, you have failed the camp, and you have failed this planet. Deep down you have even failed yourselves, and your grave will be spat at by all of your failures. You failed me! If only you came a little sooner I could have been saved bur you failed. Now you will fail again!' "NO! I WILL NOT FAIL!" The demons bore into her and tossed her back. She cut into the throat of one and cut the head of another. She slashed off arms and legs tacking damage but taking no pain. As much as she fought they still bore down on her and as much as they slashed, cut, bit, and tore, she looked on and fought, cut, slashed and tore back. The demons were aiming to kill but so was she and she had training in the martial arts, which her opponents did not. Keep your cool collect your energy and pain. It will be the fall of your final enemy and will help guide you to him and survive long enough for a strike the rest is yours. She heard her lessons over and over again. Her mind embraced them and used them. She collected all the fear, anger and pain in her mind. She forced it all in one tiny bubble and sent it to the only mind that could be Alpha One. The wolf beside him fell over dead. Alpha One dropped down to pick it up. You will be remembered my child. YOU MAY HAVE LOWERED MY DEFENSES BUT I WILL NOT BACK DOWN! I WILL AVENGE MY CHILDREN AND YOU WILL LIE DEAD BY THE END OF THIS DAY! The demons were all but dead now and the wolf-man was approaching. She killed the last of the demons and approached Alpha One. She stood inches away from Alpha. She took an elbow in the chest. A sloppy came down on her head but she was hit while recovering. She looked at the dirt and felt the wolf-man's footfall upon her back. Now I have won. I have proved you too weak again. Why not accept failure? You cannot win this fight and you can sense it. Why bother fighting any more? I can wipe you away like nothing. Why do you keep the will to fight? "I don't want to fight you. I have a question." Then ask it and you may receive an answer before I kill you! "If you are as powerful and knowledgeable as you claim to be, then why do you stand here gaping as your world is taken by demons? Why do you not fight back against them? Why were we brought here at all with fighters like you?" I am crippled. I cannot fight a battle I know I will lose. I have seen demons tear through a city with little effort. Why would that change? "You also saw demons, those same demons fall against a single fighter. Does that not prove that one can make a difference? Does that not prove that there is hope for a winnable battle? Is that not proof that you might be able to win?" You speak wise words. The foot changed and resembled more of a boot in shape and weight, "Maybe true power has a spot in your ranks. Maybe with a true power such as Alpha One you can win." He sounded as crazy and twisted as the cat person for always referring to himself at 'this one'. So another nut bar joined their ranks but then she changed her mind. It may have been the lifting of his boot or the way he helped her up but she saw him as a man. A man who still had questionable sanity but that was in short supply from all of the villagers. No one could even guess to the horrors that he had seen. Her view on his sanity quickly changed again. "My name is Marco. The armor I am wearing is sentient, which means it thinks. Its name is Alpha One. It was the first actual set of sentient armor ever found and it made it's way to me. It is a strategic aid and watched and learned about your fighting skill and devised the best way to strike. I know the appearance may be shocking at first but it is what allowed me to defeat you. You were expecting sloppy fighting from a man- wolf but did not expect a well-planed use of cunning and brute force. I planted a shot to your chest so that you would need time to recover then placed a blast with all of my magical force on the back of your head. The power would have killed any normal fighter but you shielded with a psychic barrier." She looked at the armor. It was red, white, blue and some yellow. It had bug wings on the back, which were connected where the shoulder blade of the suit extended out. There was a strange blue barrier over his chest, which caught her attention. The helmet had vents at the top and a long fin traveling back. The helm was mostly red and white. There was a cut that would have allowed his face to be seen but instead of human flesh there was more metal that looked like a face. This was there to defend him from face shots. He picked her up in his arms and spread his wings, "We will return to your beloved Cbiscut so that you may reunite." "NO! Wait for a minute! I need some of this armor and stuff. I will definitely be using it." ~¤~ Cbiscut paced back and forth making Natasha a little bit nervous, "Just use psy to find her." "I can only use it at such a level and last time she tried to find me it blasted her mind remember?" "Oh, right. Just stop pacing then!" Natalie ran in. She wore chain mail from her neck down. She no longer wore the buckler on her arm or at all as far as they could tell. She smiled at them and then stopped when Cbiscut looked at her with that 'you were supposed to be back hours ago' look that she had seen so many times. "I brought a friend. His name is Marco." "So we have another straggler, imagine my surprise." "HEY! I'm no straggler!" Natasha gave him a mad look. Marco stepped into view and they stopped fighting, "Hello. I am Marco Sendati, host of Alpha One. I have joined your ranks because I heard that there might be a place for me. If I am indeed just another straggler you will prove it against me young knight." "There will be no fighting here." Marcel had been sitting on one of the pews in a corner, "This is a church, a sanctuary to all of god's children." "Demon!" Marco cried. "In a church. Now what does that tell you about this demon? I am just another one of god's children." "Leave this sacred place! We will duel to the death!" "We will not duel to the death because this is a church and people don't fight in churches. If I wanted to kill you then I would leave the church but I'm not interested." "No demon would beat me." He had a little bit too much pride. He didn't know Marcel. The cat-person faded away and tapped Marco on the shoulder then reappeared on a different pew, "Tell me human, which one of us would still be alive if that had been an attack? Do you still think that no demon can defeat you and that you are a match for all? Get to know your opponent's tricks before you jump to conclusions. Oh, yes I almost forgot, don't try and read my mind anymore because I think in my native tongue so you wouldn't understand a thing. That was a very nice trick though." Marco stood totally astonished, "When can I join?" "You already did Marco. We unfortunately only have the two beds and four people to fit in them. We already tried the girl and girl thing but that doesn't work so-" Natasha broke in, "I'll share my bed! You can sleep with me." Natalie felt it. The armor was unaffected by this but the man inside was probably very flattered. The blue field over his chest let go and the armor loosened. The helm came off revealing the untouched and innocent face of a blushing boy. His hair was black and was spiked forward. His skin was pale and his eyes were dark. "I have never slept with a girl before." He stuttered slightly. "Well." Natasha said, "I haven't ever slept with a guy before so it is a new beginning for both of us." "I feel so out of place only knowing Natalie's name. What is yours fair lady?" "I'm Natasha and spare the pleasantries because I am also a necromancer." "Ah, you work with death as I work with life. I am a druid. Nature and the animals will be with me everywhere. I look forward to finally resting for once. With such a beautiful young woman too." Natasha blushed, "Well it is getting late maybe we should rest now." ~¤~ Natalie looked at Cbiscut looking out the window and decided it couldn't hurt if she changed right here. The chances of him turning around before she was done were only getting higher as she waited. She pulled off the chain mail allowing her leather armor to be seen again. She unzipped the top as always and started changing when C.B. turned around. He blushed deeply seeing the bear back of Natalie and turned back to the window. Natalie wouldn't ever have had the mind to think about it had she not heard his mind 'hmmmm, the city is so beautiful. Almost as beautiful as Natalie. Speaking of Natalie where is she? Well I can go look for- OH MY GOD! Oh shit man. Uh.look at the city and pretend nothing happened. Oh but that was so amazing! I might never get to see that again. One more little peek couldn't hurt could it?' She tapped him on the shoulder making him jump but not turn around, "One more peek? You want to see my back again? Or do you want to see something else?" Her mind filled with his thoughts. He raced to try to stop them but it was too much for him to keep up with. Oh my god, oh my god she is like offering- The thought was stomped out. "Turn around." She commanded it like it was nothing at all. "I can't!" "Why not?" "B-because you a-aren't f-fully clothed." He started to stutter. She reached out, grabbed his shoulders and turned him around. His eyes were closed. She reassured him by taking his hand and running it down the side of her body. She was wearing her leather armor. He opened his eyes and looked into hers. She was biting her lip. He kisses her to get another feel of it before she broke skin. Usually she would have tried to escape by screaming or pulling away. Instead she kissed back slipping her tongue into his mouth. Her hands somehow found their way to his rear where they sat happily. He broke the kiss, "Natalie what are you-" She kissed him again to keep him quiet. She broke the kiss, "I was reassuring you. It's all right. I'll change somewhere else where you won't see by accident. That is what the extra room is for you know." She pointed behind her at a door. She went into the extra room and he looked out the window again, Great now if I see her she will know it is on purpose. Thoughts that weren't his entered his head, Oh but it would be so sweet to see even a bear back again wouldn't it. Just to see Natalie changing is a wonder. Just go in. You can say you were checking in on her. Just as the thoughts became more insistent the door opened and he heard Natalie walk out. She got into bed and under the covers before he could turn around. He got under the covers himself looking at Natalie as she tried to find a comfortable position. She nuzzled into his chest and he felt silky skin. There was not leather or lace just skin. "I couldn't take any more of Natasha's tight stuff. Sorry if you feel uncomfortable." "I am a knight our relationship is as a gentleman and a lady. I had no discomfort because I felt no need to do anything. Goodnight Natalie." "Goodnight sweet prince. Oh and what you feel isn't nude either. I bought silk pajamas." ~¤~ She heard the mental scream. It was not a scream of pain. It was a scream of anger. She got up and got into her leather armor and chain mail. The scream was on a frequency that she reserved for talking to Alpha. Marco didn't have enough psychics to just talk to one person but Alpha could channel to anything. She ran and then saw it. Alpha was relaying the scenes of battle to her. The sword tore into a demon but with no remorse and leaving no serviceable armor. It cut straight down leaving the demon in two halves. The sword swung up and cut deep into another demon. The demons tried to run. Marco chased after them. The armor sent her a psychic message, 'He has vowed to destroy them all but he tires and I cannot save him forever.' 'STOP HIM THEN! YOU ARE SENTIENT SO WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THE LOSS IN DEATH?' 'I have no power over him. Sentient I am but I con only do so much.' She pulled out both of the claw weapons and ran out of the camp. She slashes through the demons still alive so that they no longer felt any pain. She saw it then. The red armor, swinging its sword. The demons were getting faster and smarter and were attacking from all sides. He spun around and killed them all. "Stop!" Natalie cried. "No, I must destroy Andariel and open the way east. If I don't do it today it will just be harder and harder to do it tomorrow." "You are going to get yourself killed!" "Just let me get to the burial grounds. I will kill Blood Raven and we can go back." "All right but right after that. Remember you have to survive. It isn't my fault if you get killed." "I won't." The wolves appeared at his sides and tore into the demons all around them, "I'm just a little tired." "Did you sleep at all last night?" "No. Natasha is noisy when she sleeps. She didn't even try to sleep for a while. She was more interested in lying on top of me and feeling under my shirt. Nice girl but a little bit slow for me saying that I just wanted to sleep." "Yah that sounds like Natasha." They came to an entrance into a place that Natalie had never been to before. The smell of the dead filled her nose. She guessed this to be the burial grounds. A flaming arrow shot out and hit Marco in the chest. The arrow bounced off the blue barrier. He put out his wings and jetted into the burial grounds leaving Natalie to catch up, "I hope you know what you are doing or this is going to be a very short trip." ~¤~ Cbiscut and Natasha ran out of the camp after Alpha and Natalie. They followed the trail of blood and bodies to a dank graveyard. They rushed in and saw Natalie dueling with ghouls and other undead. Alpha One rushed through them with his sword close to his lift side clutched tightly in his hand while the other hand was outstretched and giving off a spinning blade of energy. "BLOOD RAVEN! You relay much to heavily on your minions to fight for you. I will show you how a real conjurer fights!" The energy blade twisted and turned until it was more of an extension of his fist. He forced the blade into a ghoul and jumped up to slash at another one taking it down. Cbiscut couldn't stand the undead. They were always depressing to see and they deserved their rest. He felt no guilt over destroying them nor did he feel any pity for them when one fell. An arrow hit Cbiscut in the chest causing him to stumble. "Join my army of the dead!" Blood raven had a cold voice that seemed to echo itself in ones mind for a moment. Natasha heard the offer and smiled from under her armor of bone, "No thanks, I have my own." At those words skeletons got up at her sides and attacked the enemy ghouls. "Does it not sicken you that you raise the bodies of the dead? Do they not deserve their rest?" Cbiscut was very against the idea of undead and was willing to support his ideas. "If these were souls I would almost feel that what you said was true but they have their rest in soul. The body has become mine to control after the soul is separated. I may be a necromancer but I understand the balance of things." Then does it not sicken you that you do nothing to fight for yourself? Alpha and Marco were one again and she knew it. Natasha pulled out her two handed sword and fought off some of the monsters. That got passed the minions, "I can fight for myself." Blood raven fired arrows only at Alpha now who was tearing through her minions like nothing. He was getting closer and she was running out. She turned and ran. And found herself face to face with Natalie. "Hello Blood Raven. My name is Natalie Rosewinger and I am an assassin. Oh and I have had my fill of the undead!" Natalie slashed at the undead rogue who turned to face the paladin, Cbiscut and the necromancer, Natasha. They all struck at her at the same time as Alpha One dropped down on top of her. She screamed as lightning coursed from her body through the ground and eliminated the remaining undead. Her helmet was completely destroyed but some of the armor was still usable. Natalie reached down and picked up the bow. It fit in her backpack so she kept it. "Now to get back home so we can figure out what some of this stuff does." Cbiscut had left all of the tools there not interested at all in what they were or what they might do. "You had us scared to death girl!" Natasha's worry was genuine, "You could have ended up ad another one of those undead!" "Yah I could have died but then I was only out here to stop Marco from joining them. I thought it was a good cause." Natalie wanted to get back and find out what the bow did, "Lets go before something else shows up to make us join the undead." ~¤~ "They are very powerful.yes very powerful indeed, but as with all things they will fall and I will gain new power from their failure." The laughter started as a chuckle but then became an insane laughter, "They will fall my lady Andariel. They will not be allowed to pass as long as my demons stand in between them and the rouge monastery. You will keep your title as the demon queen!" "I had better countess! If you were to fail me then the punishment would be indescribable even in the language if hell! Do you understand fully countess?" "Yes my queen! They will not pass." ~¤~ Natalie looked at the camp walls. There had been battle here, and recently. There were fallen demons and fallen men. The walls were blackened in spots where fire had hit. Rouge guard had doubled at all of the gates. Natalie walked into town looking around. Kasha was the first to approach her. "What have you done to anger the demons so much as to attack the walls? What have you done outlander!" Kasha looked so tired and so angry and so sad. Natalie dug into her backpack and pulled out the bow. She handed the bow to Kasha who looked it over, "The defeat of Blood Raven. I did speak of a reward however all of the trained rouges are guarding the camp. I can offer you little on the way of weapons but one of my lower rouges has spoken only good things about you and wishes to travel with you, Paige! Come here Paige!" The girl that had run from Alpha walked out slowly from behind a tent. She blushed at everyone looking at her. Marco laughed in a strange way, "Of course! She can come with us." She smiled at her acceptance and followed Marco carefully. "I remember you. You were the wolf-man." She was about 14, which was about the age of everyone in the group, "You promised that you wouldn't hurt me or the camp if I did exactly what you said and you kept your word." Her brown hair was tied at the back and up then hung freely. "Yes child I did, or rather Alpha did. Remember I explained the sentient armor thing? I never intended on hurting you or the city and I would hold the armor back if I could but I can only do so much." A man shot around the corner in front of them. He looked to be just another village person but with a closer examination he had a crossbow. He fired at Natalie dealing a blast to the chest. Natalie fell back against the force of the bolt and winced in pain. "I-I am d-doing what needs to be done to s-save the camp." The man was obviously crazy because he brought the crossbow up to aim at Marco. The bolt fired and bounced off the barrier. Marco stepped up and the man dropped the crossbow. The man turned and ran which seemed to be his only sane action. Cbiscut kneeled down next to Natalie. He looked at her and she looked back at him. "You don't look as hurt as you should feel." "Do you want to know why? It is because I'm not as hurt as I should be." She pulled the bolt out and there was no blood. The bolt had been fired from close range and should have killed her. She got up and started the walk back to the church. ~¤~ She pulled off the chain mail and then her secret was revealed. The buckler had been melted into a chest guard. She pulled it off and sat down. She sighed and brushed a hand through her hair. She couldn't remember the last time she had a shower and was starting to wonder when she would have one again. "I don't know about the rest of you but I am going to clean off the stench of death." Cbiscut had never made so much sense before, and he usually didn't voice his opinions or concerns. "That would be so wonderful." Natalie sighed again, "How do you plan on doing this?" "By taking a bath I suspect." Marcel was not being very talkative any more, "That is how normal people get clean. Some of us have been trying to sleep." "We are sorry to offend you with such mortal things Marcel." Natasha really couldn't care less about the demon's sleeping arrangement. Paige looked back and forth starting to be a little scared, "Where is that voice coming from?" "Well since I don't have a chance at sleep at all I will stop trying to rest." The cat-person became visible sitting on a pew and got up. He looked a Paige, "Another one? Ha, where does this one sleep? I have already been put out of a bed so I wonder." Paige's jaw dropped. Her eyes grew in surprise and everyone got ready for her to scream. Marcel sat there almost in laughter at the humans' futile attempts to get away from the scream. Paige stared at Marcel and just to see if she was still alive he hopped from one pew to the next and watched her head move back and forth. "Oh my god." Everyone got ready for her to run into the streets screaming, "IT IS SO CUTE!" She ran up to Marcel with a smile that went from ear to ear. "What! Cute? No, Stop! I am a scary demon!" Paige gripped Marcel in a hug, "Awww, pretending to be scary and everything. You are sooo cute!" "Stop her please! We need to invest in a leash!" "Why don't you stop her? You are 'the scary demon' after all." Marcel smiled and faded into nothing but shadows and in her confusion Paige stopped hugging, which allowed Marcel to find a place to hide. She looked around then started to cry. Marcel stood behind Natalie and tapped her on the shoulder so she knew where he was. "I meant it about the leash. I'm hiding until you get it." "Where did he go?" Paige cried harder, "I want my kitty back!" "Calm down everything will be-" Marco was cut off. "NO! I WANT MY KITTY BACK NOW!" Paige was becoming unruly and Marcel couldn't stay awake forever. If he went to total sleep he would become visible again and if Paige found him.the penalty of allowing that to happen was more than Marcel wanted to think about. "I WANNA SEE MY KITTY AGAIN!" The pressure on Natalie's shoulders suddenly lifted. Paige stopped crying. She looked totally astonished and ashamed that she was crying. She closed her eyes and stood there. Marcel slowly reappeared behind her massaging her shoulders and neck but then vanished again. "Thank you kitty." Paige said smiling. "I am only doing this once kid." Marcel was sounding more and more like a real person. It almost seemed like being around humans was rubbing off on him. "Okay kitty, but please stay with me.I wanna sleep with you. You are soft like the teddy bears my mommy used to make for me." Paige really liked the kitty, "You remind me of her." "All right kid but I don't know where we are going to sleep. Well actually you can probably sleep in the pews like I do or at least try to do. We can get some fluffy pillows or something so it isn't so hard. How does that sound?" "Sounds great, kitty." Paige had opened her eyes and sat down on one of the pews, "Where are the pillows?" ~¤~ Natalie slipped into the bath. It felt wonderful to be getting clean again. She scrubbed at some spots of dirt and blood on her arms and shivered slightly. She combed her hair even though there wasn't that much because she couldn't have it in the way. She had always used gel to do her hair but if someone could spike their hair in this world she could poof it back. She had always planed to find a less expensive way to do it but didn't really believe in magic up until she got the messages in her head. She knew she wasn't crazy but she wasn't quiet sure how else to explain them other than of course magic. It was only the one voice at first. She remembered Marcel talking to her while she sat in bed. She remembered what she was wearing. She had her sports top on and her matching gray bottoms. She remembered the dream. It was so vivid it couldn't possibly be just a dream. Her mind filled with thoughts that were not hers, well, well. Paige really must like that cat. A lot more than I do but that is because it is a demon. It was Marco's voice. She knew it well she had heard it over and over again for the past day, Maybe he isn't like the demons that destroyed Tristram maybe he is different, just a normal person. It does not concern me, I can do nothing against him until I feel threatened and as long as he knows that he won't even look at me funny. She sank deeper into the water, closing her eyes. She felt so warm here like nothing could hurt her. She felt like she was cushioned by everything so that she didn't get hurt. She opened her eyes and got out of the tub. All good things came to an end she knew and she allowed the water to drain outside through the pipe. She liked the setup of the tub. The pipe led outside the church and emptied out somewhere. Then when someone needed to take a bath they just needed to tell Cbiscut and he would conjure a cloud from the heavens. It was astounding to watch. She got into her silk pajamas that were a top with spaghetti straps that floated around her and a silky bikini stile bottom. It didn't bother her that it was a little bit slutty because it felt good. She walked out of the room and into the bedroom that her and Cbiscut shared. She slipped into the bed and looked at him sleeping. It was going to be a nice night. She was clean and was in comfortable clothes and in a church. Nothing could go wrong. ~¤~ Marco slipped outside and looked at the landscape. He jumped up and jetted to the roof of the church wearing the armor that he held so dear. He looked at all of the tents in the camp and smiled. "My name is Marco Sendati." The fact pleased him, "My name is Alpha One." That name pleased him as well but not in the same way. There was a part of him that despised Alpha One. A fighter. One who only knows how to fight, after all his enemies were gone, what then? Marco looked at the horizon, Alpha One looked at the possibilities of being attacked from that direction. The more Marco was in the armor the further away from it he was. The more he saw it relay battle strategies the more he hated to fight, or was it to kill? Death was final, an eternal rest. What a gift that would be on a tattered soul like his. The message entered his mind as Alpha One and it was not a good message. It was in the demon tongue but Alpha translated, Well mortals? Are you ready to test yourself against the countess? I think not. You thought you had true power boy? You haven't even come close. Why not bind yourself to the armor totally? Earn yourself all the fighting skills you will ever need. You are still no match for me! I am the countess and the counter to your armor. I know every trick it will try and use. Give up now. It would be so much easier and less painful then fighting me. The Marco in him almost accepted but the armor told him what was in store if he were to accept, So instead of fighting against you I would fight with you? Ha, only a fool would accept an offer like that! You only want me for the armor and for an equal. I can sense it in you. If you are the counter the armor than you would kill me anyway. If what you say is true than you would wish to fight and I would never be able to turn my back on you. It is a nice offer but I am afraid it is one that I cannot accept. NOR CAN YOU REFUSE MORTAL! I will hunt you down like the rat you are! Well countess. You finally show your true colors. I think you have about as much chance as Blood Raven did, or didn't you know? Blood Raven died. Blood Raven's death scream filled his mind again, So you did know. I assumed as much. He blocked her out of his mind and went inside the church to sleep. ~¤~ Natalie woke up with a strange pressure on her chest. She opened her eyes and found that it was Marcel trying to wake her up. She looked at him with confusion. The look on his face was full of worry. His usual smile had become a frown. He wasn't waking Cbiscut as well like she would have expected. "What is wrong, Marcel?" Natalie was becoming a little concerned herself. "The kid is gone! I looked all over the church. She is no where to be found. I knew that something bad would happen if I got to attached to her. You can use your mind powers to find her or something like that can't you?" Marcel actually sounded concerned. "I thought you didn't like Paige." "Ya well, she is nicer to me than the rest of you are. We just have to find her." "All right, I'll try." Natalie closed her eyes and searched for the mind of Paige. She had only heard the voice once before so it was probably going to be harder than she expected. She was looking with no idea of where to look or what to look for. It hit her like a fist. "She is picking berries just outside of town, Marcel. She is fine. No one is attacking and the only reason she decided to go pick berries was because she thought you looked hungry. This is definitely sounding like puppy, of in your case, kitty love." Natalie laughed a little. "This isn't funny! What if she had died? I would have been blamed for her disappearance then when someone finally found her mutilated body I would be blamed for that too. I don't want to be pulled out of the church and beaten to death by that Marco fellow. He really doesn't like me. I can read his thoughts when he isn't wearing the armor but the armor puts up some barricade so I can't even send messages." "He actually is starting to like you but that is beside the point. I am gonna keep an eye on Paige while you go get her and bring her back okay? I can't have a new, untrained member of the team out there all alone. That would be against who I am. Plus she still could get killed and I don't want a melancholy demon on my hands who thinks the world is out to get him." "Yes, yes. I'll go get her and bring her back here. I will set some rules for leaving the church without telling someone where she is going or without going with someone or something. I can't have her sneaking out in the middle of the night or something. It is embarrassing to feel so protective over a human like that." Marcel got up and vanished. He didn't like to let people see when or where he was going. He was paranoid as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. She watched the door close and got into her armor letting Cbiscut sleep. He was usually the first one up but this time it was her turn to let him wonder where she was. She ran out to the berry patch and then saw it. Paige was struggling against vines from the berries. Marcel stood there watching almost in tears. He could do nothing against the demon. He had a truce against all demons, he explained it through thoughts earlier. Natalie ran up and tore through the vines. Paige fell to her arms and she ran back out of the vines to save herself from them. They might not have been able to grab onto her but they could lash out at her and that might be just as bad. "Natalie.why did you save me?" Her question actually seemed to be an understandable one to her, "You don't know what I did." "Paige! Stop. You are one of us now! We don't leave our own." Natalie used a voice a little more stern then she had meant to. Paige looked at Natalie, "I don't mean anything to you. I did leave one of my own before. What if I do it again?" Marcel placed a hand on Paige's forehead, "Sleep little one." She closed her eyes and fell asleep in Natalie's arms. Curiosity grabbed Natalie and she placed her hand on the girls forehead laying her down just inside the walls. She felt the pulling sensation that she had whenever she got visions from another mind. She felt the pull and allowed it to pull. The looked and saw a mage and a warrior. The mage was clad in robes that became apparent to her as the robes of the archbishop Lazarus. The warrior was clad in light plate and a crown that became the crown of Leoric. He wore a sword and a shield that stopped most of the attackers and defeated some of them. They were walking in a strange maze like room with several teleporting magi that used fireballs and a close range flash. The warrior cut into them and The mage blasted them away as she fired arrows at them. After the fighting had finally stopped the warrior stepped up and pulled a lever, "Are you sure you want to do that? Last time it released monsters like those magi." "I can handle it Paige. You worry about watching the other room." She looked over her shoulder and saw a square like the one she stood in. A gust hit her from behind as the Warrior pulled the first lever. She heard his footsteps toward the second one and inhaled deeply. The walls to the square room opposite them gave was revealing all the demons they had ever fought and the lord of terror himself, Diablo. She fired arrows at some of the lesser demons but could not see straight if she looked at Diablo himself. The mage cast spells at the demons that rushed up. One demon made it past the barrier that had protected them so well. It had pitch black armor. It looked straight at her and she screamed. The armor covered the demon from heat to toe and two horns jetted out of the top of its helm. It looked at her with eyeless sockets and the raised its two-handed-sword to strike her down. The blade met with that of the warrior end then the screech of steel on steel was heard as the blade hit the chest. The armor gave way in a blue blur. The armor lay on the ground useless to everyone because of the cut in the chest and the melted pieces that were not up to the task of holding a magic outburst. The voice so familiar to her made it's taunt, "YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE ALIVE!" Diablo was here. Fire surrounded her everywhere. She tried to fire at the red hulk that was Diablo. It looked at her and smiled. Her shots did nothing against the monster. She ran. "PAIGE!" The warrior and mage screamed together. She did not look back or stop. She just kept running until she was several levels above the battle. She cried as she opened the town portal and stepped through. The warrior and Mage were being congratulated on their victory without her. She to the east back to the camp and ran. Natalie jolted back to life. She had just experienced the girl's sadness in full. She had just seen exactly what the girl had seen. She did not blame the girl for running, given the chance she would have done the same. The girl had beaten herself up about it since it happened. If only she had been there, if only she had made her shots count. The twisted world that she had run from was sickening to look at. She had every reason to run but felt so guilty for leaving her comrades. Natalie took her inside so that she could rest. ~¤~ The black armor clinked against itself as the last remaining black knight walked over the lands. He had sensed a dream involving him and the fateful change in allegiances. He was going to destroy it. He came over the hill and looked down on the town. He looked down his eyeless sockets tacking in the scenery. The town was guarded more than it had been before. He sensed psychic capable beings, one, two, three, four, but one was not human. He sensed it to be armor. It was powerful but hid something inside it. He peered into it and got past the armor. He fell on his back being hit by a psychic force so powerful that it could not be natural, LEAVE US ALONE! WE DO NOT NEED TO ATTACK YOU AND YOU SHOULD NOT FEEL THE NEED TO ATTACK US! YOU WILL NOT GET PAST THE ARMOR'S BARRIER! PHYSICAL BARRIERS ARE THERE FOR A REASON AND PSYCHIC ONES ARE TOO! THAT IS RIGHT THIS IS NOT A NATURAL PSYCHIC POWER! I AM A DEMON, JUST LIKE YOU! The psychic blast left his disoriented. He looked up at the sky wondering why a demon had yelled at another demon. He thought over the words and realized it had not been yelling it had just been enhanced and sound increased. The voice had not stressed itself at all. It had just been loud. He knew psychic barriers were there for a reason but he was more and more curious about it. He looked and saw an image of an armor clad man. The armor was white as bone in some places, a dull yellow in others and blood red for the rest. It had a sword and a psychic shield over its chest. It stared at him and walked towards him. He got up to his feet and pulled his two-handed- sword out to the ready. The demon watched as the armor walked closer. Psychic wings spread behind the armor and it jetted towards him before he could even get a look at it. The blade penetrated the breast plate with ease. It tore up through the chest and pushed in once it reached the throat. The demon stood dazed for a moment and then fell over to his side. The armor looked down and kicked the body of the demon before dropping the demon's own blade down to be the death of him. The armor stood and watched the blue mist from the armor dissipate into the wind. The black armor of the demon lay there unmoving however Alpha felt it necessary to drag the two-handed-sword up the body leaving a long gash down the back. The demon was defiantly dead and had not summoned beasts within itself to avenge its death as most would have. "Maybe a better fight next time Alpha. Maybe if we are lucky we won't have to fight any more." ~¤~ Alpha walked back into the sanctuary. Natalie looked up at him and then back at where everyone else was asleep. Alpha looked at Natasha and Paige as they slept silently. Natalie was in her full armor. She looked at Alpha and smiled. She walked up to him silently. "There is something we need to do. I remember hearing you say something about stones. You said something about Tristram too. That is where I am going next and if you won't help me get there than I will go it alone." "Calm down," Said Marco, "We will get there when the others wake up." "The one she needs with her is already awake. The others will need their rest to fight the coming battles. You should rest but we need your knowledge of the stony field. I have not set foot there for quite some time now. Your memory is fresh and you would know where we would need to go." "I know of the stones you speak. It is unfortunate that you wish to use those stones to get to Tristram." Marco seemed more somber. "It is but the only way to achieve our goal of freeing Decard Cain." Marco stood there, "Though I know which stones you speak of, there is nothing we can do to get to Tristram with them. The stones are a puzzle! You need instructions on how to use them or they are just mundane stones. You also nee the Horadric scroll in hand. That is in the dark woods but is out of my psychic reach. You will need to travel underground and will be tattered torn and beaten until you stop trying to get there. If you did manage to survive the trail of the underground then you would surely lose to Woodfist, or did you think the scroll would not be guarded?" Natasha's eyes flickered open and she rolled over to see what was happening. She saw the back of Natalie and could see some of Alpha past her. She looked at them talking to each other about some stones and Tristram and a fist made of wood. She had no idea how the three were connected. She looked at Alpha hoping that he would make some kind of explanation but none came. She yawned and sat up which got both Natalie's and Alpha's attention. "'morning. What's for breakfast?" Natasha was thinking with her stomach because she was to tired to think with her mind. "We aren't having breakfast." Cbiscut was there he just hadn't said anything before that. "We can't go without breakfast. Malnutrition will drain our energy." Natasha was a little sad at the thought of not eating. Cbiscut tossed her a canteen, "Drink. It should keep you alive and awake and away from malnutrition. You are going to lose if you take on Treehead Woodfist as you are. We might as well as talk to Akara and see if she has any simple quests to do before we try to save Dekard Cain." "But Cain is the key and upper hand that we will need to combat the great evils that you will face. I would normally be in a state where I totally agreed with you, however they search to get the power of Cain. He is a Hourodrim mage I doubt even Natasha or Natalie could compare to his power." Marcel sat somewhere in his invisible state. "We don't have the power to save Cain. I was pulled here for the original challenge remember? I saw some of the demons that hid far under the earth in that poor city. The demons that attacked at night were relentless, and cruel. Some of us are prepared for what we will face but some of us aren't. I know what we will be against but that was before, I can't fight some of that any more. Can you promise me that I won't have to fight a monster like the butcher or a tortured soul like King Leoric again? If you can promise me that the only thing I will fight is fallen ones, ghouls and skeletons then I will be able to do this even if there are great numbers but if I have to fight something like that again." "I am sorry for what you were forced to endure but it is the only way that we might not have to fight those things you described again. Do Akara's quest if you want to but remember: every minute you spend doing that is a minute you could be stopping someone from being twisted into the puppet that you saw as Leoric or Lazarus. Every minute another demon like the butcher could be brought into this world. Every minute something like Diablo could be brought here to torment you." Natalie broke into the conversation, "Excuse me but is there something I missed here? Who is Leoric, what is the Butcher, and what is this talk about Lazarus. In Batman there was a Lazarus pit and it rejuvenated life, what could be wrong about that?" "The Butcher was one of the first demons I fought, Lazarus was the one who brought him into Tristram, Leoric was king of Tristram before he went insane because of the loss of his son, Lazarus was the one who kidnapped his son and then turned him into the demon Diablo, Leoric was killed by his disciples and Diablo raised him as the Skeleton King. The Skeleton King had necromancer powers, in other words he raised the dead. He was killed and dropped a crown that stole life points from defenders, which meant that you got the life of some monster that you attacked. Any more questions?" "How did you get here before? I saw Paige's dream and it didn't have a kid or anyone that looked like you in it. Only two other guys, one was a mage and the other a warrior." Natalie looked at him. "Some of the less fortunate members of the party.died. I was but a mere child and shouldn't have made it as far as I did. When the three fighters realized what was coming they sent me and a rogue up to get the older fighters that were still alive. They were far more equipped to take on a demon like Diablo I ran as fast as I could to somewhere that I could create a town portal.the rogue told me that she would wait to make sure that I could find my way back down when I got the others. When I got to town I rushed to find fighters but they were all asleep. I finally figured out why they had sent me there and what the rogue had already known. I rushed to my town portal just to hear the death cry of the evil demon." "They saved you, you are sad about that?" Natasha sighed. "I couldn't help. I am sad about that. I know have the experience to try again and I might be able to kill Diablo this time. ~¤~ "So.They plan to rescue Decard Cain. I'm interested to see what powers the old man has. He can't have much left of his sanity and I wouldn't have any sanity left if I let them just waltz in there and take him. I must make it a challenge so I will simply raise an old friend." "What are you talking about demon?" Cain stayed in his cage his back to her and his eyes closed. "Oh." The countess mused, "Your friend Grizwald. He means something to you doesn't he? How much does he mean if I raise him to make sure no one takes you away from this place?" "Foul demon! Do as you wish. I will have no part in any of this anyway." "Come back to me.GRIZWALD!" Cain could hear the sounds of the rising dead and the tortured souls, "Grizwald, I am sorry." ~¤~ Natalie, Natasha, and Mark looked at Cbiscut. Paige was asleep. Marcel patted her head lightly as the talking went on. "First you neglect to tell us that you have been to this world before then you decide to deprive us of our only advantage in the territory that we are going into. Who the hell are you? You are probably the one who pulled us all here in the first place!" Natasha was fuming at him. "Go ahead kill Treehead and rescue this Cain. I would help but you have not seen what I have and have not gone through the battles that I have. I cannot kill another innocent that was taken by the powers of evil! There is sure to be one. There always were in Tristram." Cbiscut had no problem speaking his mind. "Do not be so certain young master. There are few innocents still alive in Tristram. There is Cain but that is the only thing that I can see as still being alive and still being innocent." ~¤~ Natalie and everyone else except for Cbiscut and Paige had gone on the quest through the stony field to get to the Dark Wood. Cbiscut stood there looking at Akara. She smiled at him and knew exactly what he had come for. "In the Blood Moor is a place of great evil. The demons there are threatening our camp and the people here. Cbiscut, where are your friends? I thought you had a whole party which was only missing a barbarian, a sorceress and an amazon. I only see you and a rogue scout." "I was part of a party however we had to split up and I had to leave their party so I didn't worry them. They will need all of their thoughts on what they are facing in order to succeed." ~¤~ Voices echoed over the mountains in psychic and mundane. The voices spoke of Diablo and dreams and a world unlike their own. The voices echoes over the planes. They talked about three chosen ones, the remaining of one, and the returning of another with two new members in another set of three. The echoes were only ever a whisper but haunting to those that heard it. They spoke briefly of the third member in the first party. A cry echoed over the hills and planes. "Diablo lives. We have seen it and now so have you. We cannot wait any longer to bring a forth member into this world. We have the power to do so now but instead of doing that we sit and watch out only chance at survival take a trial in which they will hone their skills and become closer to each other. There is one flaw in your reasoning if that is it. We plan to bring two more people from the other realm and they will be entered into something that is totally beyond them." "This is true. They will have no ties to the other members in the party and will not have a chance to hone their skills the same way but we must save our power until we have enough to bring the other one at the same time." "I think you are wrong and we should bring the one we can here now. We should do what we can when we can and increase our hope's chance at survival." "As you wish. We will bring one in. Now do we bring the Amazon or the Sorceress?" ~¤~ *A/N Yah look what we got now! This story is really starting to blend well and I might start to work more on it. Word tells me I have written 30 pages and I just want to state that before I go on in the story because it might be important to someone. If you want to check my authenticity then copy it all out and change font size to 12 and text to times new roman.* ~¤~ Natalie, Natasha, and Alpha One had made it through the underground passage meeting with much resistance but defeating it fairly easily. The met with several monsters that were unlike the others and had strange powers but they kept on. The trip to get to the passage was probably harder on some of them then the trip through it. They had run from The blood moor all the way to the stony field and had kept against the rocks so they could avoid confrontation with any beasts that inhabited that area. They had now come through the passage and looked at the light of day. What little light there was here in the day was hardly comforting. It had seemed that they had called it the dark wood for a reason. A group of possessed archers rushed towards them in a fury of arrows that were blocked, dodged or just missed the intended target. Natalie rushed toward one of the archers and thrust a blade into its chest. When it fell to the ground Natasha rose it as a skeleton. Mark rose his two wolves that circled him and tore at anything that attacked him or the other two. "This is not the mood you monsters wanted to catch me in!" Natalie rushed forward again and slashed up one and cut another one in half horizontally. "Natalie, maybe you should calm down." Natasha wasn't smiling at any of this and she was worried about Natalie. The voice of Mark came into her head, It's all right, she knows what she is doing. Natalie continued to tear and cut at the monsters and went through most of them before the others even had to attack for themselves. Natasha used her bone wand to jab one and Mark followed up with a sword slash cutting it diagonally. They kept going like that with Natalie and Mark switching positions each time they came upon a group of monsters. They came upon a large tree that emitted a strange magical energy. From out of the trees rushed a squad of gargantuan beasts like the ones that they had beat in the underground passage. There was also a green one and Mark stepped back a bit at seeing it. "Treehead Woodfist. Extra fast, extra strong. Get ready people!" Mark knew everything about this monster. It rushed forward with it's minions and raised it's fist for a strike on Mark. A psychic shield appeared as the fist dropped but then the shield broke and Mark was sent to the ground. The fist came down on him again and Mark tried to resurrect the shield. Mark caught the blow to the chest. The others were too busy with the minions to be able to help him. The fist raised again. Mark gave all control to the armor which raised it's arm and produced a sword of mundane quality. The beast fell back from the unexpected blow but this left Mark completely out of energy. Treehead quickly recovers and pounded at Mark again. Mark cried out in pain and the armor started to release. Mark cried out as another fist hit him, "NO!" Mark began to prey to all that was good and holy that he would survive and that the great gods would come down and smite someone who truly deserved it. As if in answer to his prayers a blast of lightning hit Treehead. The voice of Akara entered his mind, I saved you but you have to get up or you will still die. Mark struggled to his feet and then smiled. He pulled out a blue potion and drank down the contents of the flask, He then pulled out a white potion and drank it down too. He pulled down the visor to his helm again and then started to float. The magical blade appeared in his hand again and he raised it up and flew straight at Treehead. "I'll kill you, you bastard," He screamed as he thrust towards the villainous figure. The sword was about to hit Treehead when a large hand clamped around his wrist. Treehead murmured his words, "I think not." Another sword appeared in Mark's free hand and swung at the face of Treehead. The sword was deflected by Mark's own sword, that was still in his other hand. Treehead threw Mark in frustration then charged at him again and started laying pounds and punches on him. Mark let out all of his rage and pushed over Treehead. Treehead looked up dazed and saw the figure of a wolf-man raising up above him. The wolf-man lay two long swipes across Treehead's cheat leaving long trails of blood then it reached for his face. Treehead screamed as the wolf- man tightened its hand into a fist over Treehead's face. The wolf-man turned back into Mark and continued grabbing at Treehead's face. Natalie and Natasha defeated what was left of the minions and looked over to see if Mark needed help. Mark pulled back his hand that was now dripping blood down the chest of Treehead. Mark summoned the magic sword and plunged it deep into the chest of Treehead then the thrust forward making a deep gash. He pulled back the sword and turned towards the tree that they had come for. As Mark stepped towards the tree Treehead tightened his fists and then got to his feet. "Watch out!" Mark turned and saw Treehead get to his feet. Mark screamed at Treehead and then did something mentally to him. Treehead looked at him with pain in his eyes and then Treehead simply turned off. Mark watched as Treehead fell into a crumpled pile of blood, gore and hair on the ground. There was little that was keeping him together even as a pile now but Mark was not worried about that. He turned back to the tree and reached into a knothole and pulled out a scroll. ~¤~ *A/N Too many author's notes? I just read the first one and would like to make it clear that my CD is back in working condition which is why I haven't been doing a lot of work on the story. I have been training Cbiscut and making sure he has that extra edge for battlenet games with more than just me as a player. I can't take on any of the major demons alone but I am no help to anyone if I am in a multi-player game. Also I would like to make sure everyone knows but I have to go to a birthday party thing for my grandma next weekend, and there isn't anything to do since the comic store left town so needless to say I am gonna have a big chance to write this story. If I need to take a breather from the story then that is what 7-11 and Walmart are for. Anyway if you haven't played the game then you probably really don't care much about what I write but since I am sure that there are only like two people that haven't played the game that actually read my story I am gonna make everyone happy and try to stick with the actual quest set up. I could probably sit down for a month and figure out the exact amount of experience needed to gain a level but that wouldn't blend well with the story. Anyway, I am not going back to the Cbiscut story for a while I don't think so don't get your hope up. Maybe I will kill him off or something.It would almost make sense to do that I mean my battlenet Paladin Cbiscut all ways dies. Okay this is going to be a little longer than normal author notes so maybe you should just scroll down until the next section. For Chapters I am going to do one for every act and then one for the secret cow level. I might skip the cow level but I thought that would be comic relief (I think that is why they bothered to put in the cow level was so that you weren't all ways like serious and all about the game. Well that is it for this Author note.* ***~¤~***~¤~***(End of the author note)***~¤~***~¤~*** Natalie, and Natasha rushed to keep up with Mark as he flew around the dark wood. He finally stopped at the edge of a strange mark on the ground. He stepped on it and then lamps on either side of him light up with a blue flame. Mark light up with the same blue affect and he glowed a bright blue before he vanished and then Natalie and Natasha were there alone looking at the plot of land where Mark had disappeared. Natalie looked at the spot and yawned, "There is no way I am steeping on that until I know whether he survived or not. I don't even know how it works." Mark reappeared on the plot of land looking impatiently at the other two. He pulled back the visor and smiled at them then motioned for them to come on. He turned and then started to glow again. "C'mon I'm not waiting any more. Let's go. I can then get you to the stony field with no waiting. This isn't that bad." Mark smiled as he disappeared. Natalie stepped on the pad first and had images pop into her mind. She thought about mark and about the Rogue camp and then felt really light. She then felt back to normal again and looked around at the rogue camp. Natalie stepped off the pad and looked as a blue portal opened up. It was impossible to see through it and it was over at the other side of the camp in a little corner made by piled up rocks. Natasha appeared on the pad, "I am not gonna stay there and be the only one still left alive to talk about my disappearing friends." Natalie smiled and walked towards the blue portal then stepped through. She blinked as she suddenly looked at the stony field. The pulling sensation was there that time. She looked around and saw another pad and stepped on it then stepped back. She looked over to see small blue monsters that Mark had identified as carvers. There was a set of stones too. Mark appeared at the portal and it closed behind him. "Natasha needed rest and I found out what the words on the scroll mean. Akara told me and when I asked about Cbiscut she said that he had forbidden her to talk about him. Okay, up at those stones is where we need to go and there is of course a unique monster there like the ones we have already fought. This is Rakinshu. He is a carver and you don't have to worry about the carvers getting back up after you kill them because there are no shamans." Mark smiled as he stepped forward drawing his sword. The carvers that dared leave the stones were killed by one of the two warriors. What was left stayed with a carver that was a little more blue than the others. He rushed forward and Mark dodged. He spun around tearing through a carver and then saw Rakinshu rushing towards him again. Natalie had cleared most of the carvers and was confused at why Mark didn't just kill the unique monster. Mark struck Rakinshu and then Rakinshu emitted electricity. Mark dodged some of it then jumped back to where Natalie was. Him and Natalie tore through carvers and avoided Rakinshu. The carvers ran out and Rakinshu stood guarding the way to the stones. Mark smiles, "All right. I know two flaws in lighting enchanted monsters. First flaw is that poison damage doesn't count to what brings out the lighting," He pulled out a different sword, "Second thing is that if we kill him in one shot he only releases one jolt of electricity at the same level as any of the others. If you have a poison weapon switch to it and we will strike him at the exact same time. If he survives then he has both poison damages working at him and he will die a lot faster. Ready?" Mark and Natalie charged forward and slashed at Rakinshu as they passed. He gave off his lightning then died. Mark turned and walked towards the now safe stones and then opened the scroll. He read slowly then touched the stones in an order. Each stone light up with his touch then when all the stones were light a portal opened in the middle of them. It was like the blue one but was an eerie red. Mark looked at Natalie then lowered his visor. He brought his sword up in front of him and Natalie did the same with her claw weapon. They looked at each other then stepped through the portal at the same time. The felt the lifting sensation then felt as if they were being thrust to the ground. They arrived in Tristram. ~¤~ *A/N gotta love suspense.* ~¤~ Akara smiled at the newcomer, "Welcome to the rogue encampment." The newcomer looked around confused and dazed, "What the hell just happened?" The newcomer was dressed in the same fashion as Natalie and Natasha had been in when they had arrived. She looked to be of oriental descent. Her black hair was smooth and straight down. She frowned. Her black leather coat matched her black jeans fairly well. Akara smiled, "I believe you were brought her from the other world, like the others. That makes you either the amazon or the sorceress. I wonder which one." The oriental girl frowned even more, "I don't care! I want to go back home!" A voice came out of nowhere, "Are you sure you want to go home? There are things that you can learn and do here that you can only learn and do here." The oriental girl looked around even more confused, "All right, I am insane. I might as well play along with you hallucinations." Marcel appeared sitting on a patch of grass, "Insane? You might be insane and I might be a hallucination. I wouldn't know if I was a hallucination, I've never been one before. I'm not sure if you are insane thought because I don't think you have ever been insane before either." The oriental girl laughed, "Interesting logic you have. The fact that we would have no knowledge about what we are unless we have been it before or someone has told us who has also been in that position." Akara smiled again and said, "I believe you are a proper sorceress. The amazon would most likely be more aggressive and lash out at Marcel there." The oriental girl frowned again, "There isn't any reason for me to lash out at the cat person. He is kinda cute and I like cute things." She smiled at Marcel who blushed a little bit but no one could tell past his fur. Marcel smiled, "You are the second girl that has had that opinion of me." The girl patted Marcel, "My name is Yvonne. I think I caught your name as Marcel." ~¤~ Natalie and Mark tore into goat men and Skeletons with little effort. They saw what was left of Tristram. They stepped into the square and saw a cage with a man stuck in it. He cried out to them as three skeletal archers fired at them across the square. They were champion skeleton archers according to Mark. The skeletons were kind of hard to kill for Natalie and Mark but the did it then went over to where the man in the cage was. They felt kind of funny as they let the man down. "Decard Cain? Go to the rogue encampment immediately! Mark did you feel that just now? That was weird." Said Natalie. "Grizwald is coming." Cain muttered as he opened a town portal. A large man came around the corner of the square. He looked normal except for gashes and rot in patches on his body. Natalie jumped back to beside Mark. Mark stood his ground and looked at the monstrosity before him. He jumped forward and slashed at Grizwald. The monster staggered and then swung a fist at Mark. Mark dodged the attack and then slashed again. Mark's attacks had no effect on the monster. "He isn't dying! Why the hell won't he die?" Mark screamed in frustration and struck at the monster again. Natalie backed up further, "You mean you haven't ever seen him before?" Mark flew back and landed beside her the psychic wings folding in behind him, "I thought he was a ghoul." Grizwald was moving closer. He raised his arms high for another strike. His fists were about to come down on a psychic shield when he stopped moving for a moment then turned and looked up on a roof. Paige was standing on the roof and drawing another arrow. Grizwald turned again and got ready to strike when he stopped again ad then stepped back for a moment. He looked up past Natalie and Mark and they turned and saw a shadowy figure drawing another arrow across a bow. The figure let go of the arrow and for an instant there was a green flash on his bow caused from three different sources. From behind Natalie and Mark came three skeletons that they readied themselves to fight. The skeletons kept going and attacked Grizwald. Natasha smiled as she came around the corner of a building. Grizwald got his bearings and broke every bone in the skeletons with one shot each. A blast of lightning caught Grizwald on the back knocking him forward ad the two archers on the rooftops pulled back their arrows again. The lightning had come from another shadowy source. Grizwald got up and gave a pained scream as the arrows hit him. Grizwald tipped over onto his side. The second archer landed at his side at the same time that Grizwald hit the ground. The Shadowy archer leaned down and muttered something then got back to his feet and walked towards Natalie, Natasha, and Mark, "Grizwald shouldn't have suffered like that. He has been dead for quite some time now and was obviously brought back to life to guard Decard Cain. He was cursed." "Was that the funny feeling that I had when we lowered Cain from the cage?" Natalie looked at the hood and tried to see past it. The shadowy figure made no movement, "No. For the curse to take affect someone in your party has to be hit by Grizwald. It was more likely to be my aura. I have joined your party due to common goals. I wanted to free the soul of Grizwald and since you also wished to destroy his body in the mortal plain then our goals were the same." "Who are you?" Natalie had that question tearing at her mind since she had seen him. The shadowy man had a hood on and a triangle scarf that she could see. The strange bow had been separated into string and wood. The bow was in a quiver with the arrows. The arrows and the quiver looked like the quivers of arrows she had seen monsters die with, it had to be the bow. "I am the great and powerful Cbiscut, I've come with my party of long range fighters to save Decard Cain. You are Natalie. I remember people I.people, I think are my friends," Cbiscut pulled back his hood, "Our new Member is Yvonne. She, like Paige thinks that Marcel is cute. She has lightning spells." Cbiscut opened a town portal and the stepped through. Everyone followed him without question. ~¤~ *A/N Oh ya! Finally back to my fan fiction.still writer's block.Well, anyways, the real Natalie's Birthday is April 15th and since Cbiscut is based on me I can either go with my birthday or the date that I created C.B. on in the first place and that should be like 6 months ago or something to that effect and I will check it in a minute. Oh.shit.it keeps updating and says April 9th cause that was the last time I played good ol' C.B. So now I should probably just use my Birthday.but like hell I am gonna tell you when that is. I don't need Birthday beats. Ok now to tell you about the rest. Yvonne is a girl in my English class and she is a little uppity and positive so there will obviously be a plot where she is too positive and C.B. threatens her life or something.I don't like people who are overly positive all the time. Anyways.Natasha is a nice girl in real life so I will try to bring that into the story as best I can. Mark is based on a guy named Dave on my buss but not in any of my classes. This is one of the few stories that I have written with me as a character and no Rhonda. You can read this a million times and never find the character Rhonda appear. She is not in any of my classes and not on my bus and I don't talk to her any more. I like Natalie now cause she is really nice and funny. I want to get Liam into my story cause Liam is funny and was bothering Natalie, and best of all, Liam is British! I love that British accent! Liam doesn't have the prissy England accent, he has the funny British one and he is a riot! He is funny and for the first week when he was in my tag class (don't get me wrong he is still in my tag class) he was kicked out, and the sad thing is that Tag is only like 6 minutes long. I have like written more Author note than I expected but if you like the author notes then I guess this is like a dream come true. Bye, bye!* ~¤~ Natalie sat on the back of the pew swinging her feet back and forth, "So you have abandoned us entirely?" Cbiscut said nothing and continued to stare out the window of the church. Yvonne was sitting in a pew drawing someone in anime style. Paige was nuzzling Marcel lovingly, while Mark cleaned a weapon in the back. Natasha nibbled on some cookies that she had bought in town. "Did you hear me or are you too high and mighty to listen?" Natalie tapped her foot waiting for a reply from him. "I understand why you are upset. You feel that I left you in your moment of need and then came back to claim all of the glory." Cbiscut didn't even look away from the window. "How the hell do YOU know anything about how I feel? Are you some sort of psychic?" Natalie fumed at him. Cbiscut smirked, "Yes and I figured that you of all people would remember that. You are the one that I have the psychic link to. I know exactly what you are feeling. I perfected my psychic power and I haven't learned to channel it yet. Do you want to know how the man down the street feels about business or what any of the rouges is thinking about?" Natalie stood there totally shocked. Yvonne raised her hand, "Excuse me but is this a fight?" Natalie shot Yvonne a look, "No." Cbiscut smirked again, "Your lips say no but your mind is screaming yes." Natalie shot a glance at him, "Listen to me-" Marcel cut in, "Please if you would be so kind as to SHUT THE HELL UP! Some of us are trying to rest. It is hard enough as it is without you two screaming mentally and verbally at each other. It is a wonder we get any sleep at all! Now if I have to separate you two I will." Natalie stomped in a turn around and stared at Marcel, "You stay out of this." Cbiscut went silent the second he heard Marcel speak. He smiled at the world outside and then turned and walked to the door. He looked at it and then stepped back and sat down as if waiting for something. Marcel smiled then looked at the door and listened for the knock. The knock did indeed come and the knocker was Akara, "Hello. I came to give you a ring." Cbiscut smiled and got up then looked at Natalie who looked away. Cbiscut reached out and took the ring thanking Akara for it. He walked over to Natalie and took her hand, "Natalie, open your palm." "Why?" Natalie looked at him disturbed. Cbiscut smiled, "Because this is yours. You are the one who decided to save Decard when you did. If we had all gone with my plan then Decard would be dead by now and no one would deserve this ring." He pushed it into her hand smiling, "Wear it with pride." ~¤~ *A/N Sorry.it really has been a long time since I updated.anyway.came up with a lot of ideas for this and a second story with the same characters mostly but it isn't a sequel but not a prequel either because it happens in Cbiscut's past but in Natalie's future.if I ever get through this I will write the story oh and just incase anyone was wondering most of the people are either straight from real life people I know from my school or based on people I know from school or have no relation to anyone from shool at all oh yah and I am really sorry to all the people I copied exactly even though they probably have no idea or don't know who I am or just really don't care or haven't even ever gone onto Fanfiction.net but just incase I would like to make this statement, "I HAVE NO CREATIVITY WHEN IT COMES TO NAMES AND I AM REALLY SORRY SO PLEASE DON'T SUE ME"* ~¤~ Everyone was asleep inside the protection of the church, everyone except for one individual from the party who was still wide-awake. The shadowy figure jumped off the top of the church and darted through the camp. It jumped over the wall in a flip and landed, bow drawn and arrow ready. It dashed across the blood moor and into the stony field and through the underground passage. The shadowy figure stopped in the underground passage to rest for a few minutes than started off again and came out of the passage, shooting down two monsters before they could draw out their weapons. The figure ducked down and stripped the corpses of any useful material then darted off again into the black marsh. Any and all resistance failed and died against the figure. It stood in front of a dark tower and slowly moved in. It pulled back its hood and dashed into the tower for protection from any possible attacks. "Hello Paige." Paige jumped as she heard something call her name and drew another arrow across her bow. Her eyes darted from side to side across the dark tower and saw nothing, "Oh please if I wanted to kill you I would have." And Cbiscut stepped out of the shadows behind her. Paige readied her bow for an attack, "What are you doing here?" She said in a shaky voice. Cbiscut smiled and punched her in the gut, "I'm protecting you." Paige went unconscious. ~¤~ Marcel woke up with a start and looked around the dark room slowly. He got up gingerly and walked around the room taking in every detail. Marcel sank into a dark shadowy corner and became invisible. He dashed out silently and walked into all of the quarters and checked on everyone. Marcel snuck up onto the roof of the church and looked around the camp for any movement. He squinted and dashed to the other side of the roof looking for any sign of movement at all. Marcel cursed himself and then jumped off the church and went into the church through the main doors. Marcel stood there and looked all around desperately for someone who was awake, "SOMEONE WAKE UP!!! THE LITTLE ONE IS MISSING!!!" ~¤~ Natalie came down the stairs to see everyone all worried and panicky. Natalie blinked a bit and rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing what she was seeing, "Why is everyone so worried? I just come down to get a glass of water and everyone is jumpy and panicky and I don't know why! It is so stressful like I have been left out of something! Hey why are you all ready for battle? It is still dark that is sleepy time." Everyone went silent, "WHAT?! It's true people sleep at night and we usually only fight during the day and now I just feel awkward. Where is good old C.B. he is always helpful at a time like this." All of the party looked around for a few minutes before Marcel spoke up, "I never realized Cbiscut was missing too.I am less worried now because that most likely means that he is with her and the young master is definitely my first choice for a body guard." There was a general mumble of agreement from the rest of the party except from Mark who thought he would have been a better guard. Natasha was the only one who came up with a problem in the whole situation, "But what if Paige isn't journeying with Cbiscut but Cbiscut went out journeying by himself and Paige went out looking for him? She could be in trouble or worse yet they could both be in trouble!" "The young master would not be in trouble without mistress Natalie knowing.isn't that right? Wouldn't he use his psychic link with you to tell you if he was in trouble or needed help? He is a smart boy and though he may not always seem to be but he is the kind of person who knows when to ask for help and when to back down from a challenge." Marcel seemed to hold Cbiscut in a special regard but it was fine with everyone else just as long as no one died other than the people who where trying to kill the party or any of the party members. Natalie yawned and continued down the steps and went into the washroom to get her drink of water. By the time she had come out everyone was crowded around the entrance to the church and looking at something that was coming in. The party separated and let Cbiscut walk in carrying Paige in his arms, "OH MY GOD!!! What happened?" Cbiscut smiled at her, "Nothing that should cause any real damage but she is out cold so I am gonna let her sleep it off. She will probably be fine when she comes to." ~¤~ Cbiscut stood in a great hall with several outskirts to it. He drew his sword and plunged it into the ground before his feet and knelt down before the closest thing to a cross in the hall. He muttered a quick prayer and got back to his feet, "Now I ready myself to cross the boarder between light and darkness and my only worry is for the people that are not with me right now. I feel that if I do not conquer this dank place that they may be in danger.countess, I am coming for you." As he finished his words several close ranged blackened rouges poured out from either side in front of him. Cbiscut slashed forward and cut down on a lot of the monsters before they started crowding him. Cbiscut spun the blade and cut through several more making an opening in the crowd and he saw that there were no more enemies approaching him. He doubled back and cut down the remaining black rouges and then charged down one side and saw the countess "Come for a blood bath? Heh, heh, heh." "Countess! You're mine!" Cbiscut sheathed his sword and pulled down his bow and readied an arrow. "Well, I don't think that is very fair. You get a big nasty bow and all I get is a sword and shield." She smiled at him and charged forward. Cbiscut spun and let loose his warning shot across her shoulder, which she scoffed at him for, assuming that he had missed in his attempt to get out of her way. The poison then took affect and she felt a little woozy. The second arrow was dead on target, which left the countess just dead. Cbiscut fired another arrow into the corpse for good measure and collected up the gold for later uses. "Now to get back to the people that I care about and most of all the people that matter. Rest well countess, and don't get any funny ideas of getting back up while I'm gone." Cbiscut opened a town portal and was soon back in town with the money he had collected and a few pieces of weaponry that had caught his eye. ~¤~ *A/N Okay I know that was probably really confusing and you are wondering whether you missed something or not but trust me you didn't and I didn't just forget to write anything important this will all make sense just wait and see. Bye now and keep reading please.review if you want.* ~¤~ Cbiscut walked to the waypoint and vanished then reappeared in the camp. The rest of the part was moving towards the waypoint but Cbiscut was not particularly worried about that. He could sense Natalie from a mile away but it was the fact that he knew that she thought he was with her at that exact moment. Cbiscut turned and jumped over the barrier and ducked down. He closed hid eyes and tried not to be discovered and tried desperately not to think. If he thought it might drive Natalie over the edge to insanity. He had never thought of two entities being exact same. He hadn't thought it possible. He realized that he was being overcautious when he discovered that nothing matching his mind was with the party, however he stayed down in fear that his presence might cause an identity crises of sorts where he might be endangering the rest of the party. He waited for the fake him to choose a destination and waited for about five minutes until he hopped the wall and followed them in the waypoint. He arrived in the black marsh that he had just left and looked around for a moment and saw Natasha slip into the tower. He sprinted to the far end of the tower where no one would see him and listened carefully to the conversation happening not to far from him about what supposedly lived in the tower and the countess. Cbiscut smiled slightly thinking about his earlier skirmish in the tower. Cbiscut scaled the wall and looked down to see the rest of the party and the imposter. All of them where there except for Paige. He watched carefully and drew an arrow across his bow and readied it to take out the imposter. He looked down again and realized that Natasha was not there either. He felt a hand on his shoulder and heard a voice, "I don't know who or what you are but I know that if you let go of that arrow in an attempt to kill our fearless leader you won't make it very far and I wouldn't want that to happen to me." Cbiscut recognized the voice as Natasha's and expected that if it weren't for the armor he wore that he would also be feeling the tip of a dagger against his back. The next set of actions almost all happened instantly. Cbiscut let go of the arrow as Natasha pushed his shoulder down to offset his aim, Cbiscut then spun around and knocked the dagger out of Natasha's hand and flipped backwards after it. By the time the arrow had hit the ground the dagger had become a makeshift throwing knife that was deflected from it's target by the weapon of a party member that he hadn't been paying attention to and by the time Cbiscut had hit the ground he had unsheathed and readied his sword. There was a silence that filled the tower as the imposter Cbiscut drew a sword a lot like the real Cbiscut's. The real Cbiscut lunged forward with an upward strike and sent the false Cbiscut's sword into the air where the real Cbiscut then caught it and examined it closely. He smiled and thrust the sword into the earth and backed up a little swinging his sword forth and cutting off the handle of the opposing sword. "Get that demon!" The false Cbiscut barked and Natalie soon fallowed through with it. Natalie's swipes were precise and powerful but Cbiscut had a good grasp on both defense and offense. Cbiscut moved quickly knocking away the swipes and ready to knock away more but never went on the attack himself. The slashes that Natalie was putting out where less that her normal effort, it was if her heart wasn't in it. She didn't seem to want to attack someone who wasn't attacking her. Cbiscut twisted and grabbed her wrist and put the claws into the wood of the tower easily. He didn't expect he had much time before she was free and came back to attack him but he was going to make good of the time he had. He lunged forward sheathing his sword and stopped just in front of the false Cbiscut. Cbiscut pulled an arrow across his bow and pressed the arrowhead against the chest of the false Cbiscut. Another hand was placed on his shoulder but this time skeletal and Cbiscut knew what was about to happen. He lunged off to the side as the sword of the skeleton came down into the shoulder of the false Cbiscut. The imposter gave off a muffled cry as his flesh was torn and then the blade was removed. Cbiscut got up from his roll and unsheathed his sword again ready to attack the skeleton. The skeleton lunged at him and he charged at it. There was the sound of metal against metal and all was silent again. ~¤~ Natalie looked down at the body. She nudged it lightly with he foot and then pulled away completely. She looked down at it again and nudged it some more, "Where did you say that demon went Natasha?" Natasha looked down, "It rushed off into the Tamoe Highlands and then I lost track of it." Natalie looked up from the corpse of her tragically lost friend. She looked down into the tower cellar and then started walking off towards the Tamoe Highlands. Natasha chased after her after jumping off the tower, "Where are you going?" Natalie looked up from the path she was following, "The Tamoe Highlands." Natasha grabbed Natalie's Shoulder and spun Natalie to face her, "Okay there are a few problems with that. The first problem is that we haven't cleared the tower yet and I know that sounds like a really stupid excuse to keep you here but the second reason is that you are very angry and are going to get yourself killed. The third reason is I can't let you go alone and the rest of us are morning and as upset as you are." Natalie tossed Natasha back, "I should have killed that disgusting beast when I had the chance! I should have killed it and Cbiscut would still be alive! I should have saved him!" Yvonne teleported to be right beside Natalie and smirked a bit, "Well isn't this a sad group. I couldn't help but over hear your current plan of action and I felt that you should know something before you go out doing something drastic that you might regret." Natalie cut in, "The only thing I won't regret is chasing after the murderer and killing it right now." Yvonne frowned a bit, "All right if you are really sure you want to kill off Cbiscut then go right ahead." Natalie looked at Yvonne with a scowl, "You had better say what you mean by that very quickly and it had better not have anything to do with metaphors and how Cbiscut might not want to be avenged or I will hurt you." Natalie turned back to face the Tamoe Highlands again, "I'm sorry I didn't mean that, it's just." Then Natalie started to cry. Yvonne shook her head lightly, "C'mon Girlfreind, you know in your heart that good old C.B. can't really be dead even though you've seen it for yourself you can't actually believe that whatever that thing is killed him. I know Cbiscut obviously better than you do. First of all I know that Cbiscut wouldn't have started with a sword if he had a choice. The bow and arrow are always his weapon of choice. The sword does more instant damage but the bow does a lot of poison damage and he would have used it first to make sure that the demon didn't go far. Secondly if the demon continued to attack then the sword would come out for a faster kill and a lot less possible damage to the rest of us. Now comes our second piece of evidence to prove that the dead man in there is not Cbiscut. Cbiscut would have given his all no matter what before he asked for help and then when he did ask for help he would have switched off to someone in particular instead of just commanding us to kill the demon and leaving the rest up to us. And here comes the final piece of proof that the dead man in there is not Cbiscut. I ported to every single floor in the cellar and there is not a single monster of any variety and the gold seems to be mostly cleaned up. Cbiscut always did have money problems." Natalie stopped crying for a few moments, "I don't know what to do without Cbiscut.I knew that the dead person wasn't Cbiscut but I don't know what to do without the real thing or a stand in." She looked back at the highlands, "Yvonne, all that stuff that you said the real Cbiscut did.don't you think it is odd that the cloaked guy did those exact same things? I mean he started off with a bow and everything. Isn't it strange?" ~¤~ *A/N just noticed that I added a whole bunch of characters and it doesn't say in the very first a/n about all the legal stuff that I am sorry for.well mostly.anyway, if your name is Paige then I am really sorry for using your name but you can bitch at Blizzard cause that was the very first name of the rogue I got for killing blood raven so it is there fault not mine. Also if your name is Mark and you are upset at me cause I used your name, I want you to think about what a common name mark is and then complain at me if you still feel like it but the person I based Mark's character on isn't even named Mark, oh and by the way I noticed how he hasn't had much plot action at all and I plan to get him back into the story and I don't really plan on killing him.I hope.If your name is Natasha then I am sorry cause this is based on a girl on my buss and in my English and math class and if you are that Natasha I am even more sorry but you are probably just so overwhelmed that someone even bothered to put you in a story that you really couldn't care less but this is just incase someone does care remember. I also am sorry to anyone who's name is Yvonne but she is an oriental girl in my English and math class who is really nice and can read a few words and numbers in Japanese. Anyway.is that all? I dunno I kind of lost track of all the characters in the month that I wasn't writing anything so I am hopping that is all of the characters that I made that.oh wait, if your name is Marcel then I am sorry but I think I remember that was what the person who owned my cousin's legend of Zelda Ocarina of time game before he did because that was one of the names in the files. Anyway I should probably be sorry to my cousin and Nintendo now for mentioning a game name and just mentioning my cousin even though he really couldn't care less, or at least I hope. Anyway.goodbye my adoring fans* ~¤~ Cbiscut drew his great, gemmed sword. He pushed open the door and was immediately attacked by a Yeti. Cbiscut slashed through it and then had the sword yanked from his hand by a Yeti with a different color configuration. The Yeti snapped the sword and dropped the pieces. Cbiscut doubled back and readied his bow. He pulled off a shot and the bow let off a faint green light as the arrow set on its trip. The Yeti stood there dazed for a moment then fell dead to the earth. Cbiscut checked to corpse carefully and pulled an Axe out of the beast's grip. Cbiscut smiled, "Ah yes.The Guardian used this.I remember he showed it to me and said I wasn't aloud to touch the blade. He never used it though.he would have survived if he had used it. He could have brought Diablo's Soul Stone to the Hell forge and ended all of this like that. I never would have come back.I should bring Paige back with me this time.it should have been me that stayed.She would have a family by now." Cbiscut thought for a moment before putting the axe into his backpack, "I'll fix things this time. I'll make Paige go back instead of me. But perhaps there will be no need for me this time. Maybe we can all go back home." ~¤~ Natalie slowly walked through the Tamoe Highlands keeping her claws readied for an attack. She was going to find Cbiscut if it was the last thing she did. She needed to find Cbiscut. She may have tried to be a leader of the party with Mark but she had always expected Cbiscut to come back. She didn't know what to expect this time. The party came up to a pair of beaten doors with a spray of corpses around it. A yeti had died due to some unknown cause that had seemingly resulted from the effects of a single arrow. She smirked inwardly knowing that either this was the work of Cbiscut or that her life would be over fairly soon and she wouldn't be worrying about Cbiscut for a few minutes at least. She walked into the Outer cloister slowly and silently watching the scenery as it changed from tainted grass fields to dark damp hallway. The vision, or premonition, whatever you would call it hit her like a ton of bricks. She opened her eyes to the vision and saw another view of the Dark figure from her dream. It didn't look the same however; it looked like a frail worn warrior. The light changed and it was a strong horrid demon. Another light change and the worn warrior barely able to carry his own sword stood there. Blood ran down his face from a wound in his forehead that seamed to glow with a dark power. Behind the warrior was a dark menacing cloud that seemed to leach the life from the land itself. A man was with the worn warrior. He seemed to have no idea of the demons within his companion. The man who was with the dark warrior seemed to have a haunted aura around him, as if he were plagued by the same visions as Natalie but on a different level of viewing as if he did not dream about the warrior but of some other haunting spectacle. The man looked as if he had seen his share of demons and looked tired and old. Natalie found herself wondering how much sanity could be left in the man and then returned to the real world. Mark was leaning over her obviously to see if she was all right. Yvonne had hung around and was using some protection spells to prevent attack. Paige kept an arrow drawn watching for any movement and trying to find the cause of Natalie's discomfort. Natasha was raising skeletons to make sure that they would have defenders if they were attacked. Natalie smiled and got up then turned around to see another set of big doors and another spray of corpses, "Lets go back up to town." Natalie suggested. ~¤~ "When I fled the monastery I accidentally left my magically imbued smiting hammer behind. If you could get it for me I could imbue one of your items with magical powers." ~¤~ *A/N OMG I AM GETTING BACK INTO THIS STORY. Must be all the battle.net I've been doing.anyway if anyone can find footage from the Secret Cow level I could use it for this other project I am working on. Mooselav@hotmail.com thanks guy.* ~¤~ The Smith stood admiring the Horodric Malice, "This shall work well on the Hellforge! Herphasto will be put back here and I will be the Armorer!!!" The Door burst open and a small army of skeletal warriors charged into the room. The Smith had a few moments to wonder about their intents and weather or not they were his allies before they attacked the other creatures that were in the room with him. The dark ones and dark clan around him fall like flies against the mage blasts and fairly strong melee attacks. "I shall make weapons from your bones!!!" The Smiths cry and promise were short lived. The barrage of mage blasts and skeletons seemed to be over powering him for several minutes. The Smith raised his hammer high and smashed the melee skeletons to pieces. A blast of teeth came into the room followed closely by the Necromancer who had cast it. Natasha charged in with her wand ready and her bony armor in perfect place with the skeletal magic that she was using. She stared at the Smith as he crushed her skeletons and did massive damage all around. The ground cracked and broke into a few different pieces at some of the shots it took. Natalie readied herself for the energy drain that always came with using a big spell. Slowly in front of her a behemoth of clay and sand was formed. It seemed to have a brute power that over went its body. The Smith ran up and hit the new creature of clay on the head with his hammer. The creature of clay began to crack and break but still stood and launched it's two handed power punch to the Smith. The Smith shook off the damage and put the hammer into the clay golem's head. The golem shifted a little and smashed into pieces that scattered the cold ground. Natasha backed up a little slowly worrying about what fate was in store for her. The Smith charged forward putting in a hard hammer blow that struck with a bone-snapping crack against the cobbles of the floor. The ground once again split and broke into pieces. Natasha cast teeth in a hurry trying to do anything to attack the horror that stood before her. She caught the hammer across the ribs and was knocked back out of the room. Natasha groaned as she hit the ground hard. The armor itself wouldn't have put up with the abuse that the Smith was putting out but the added defense of the bone armor protected her ribs and vital organs from any serious damage. She rolled and looked up to see the Smith was starting to advance towards her. She grabbed hold of the wand ready to defend herself in mundane ways since magic was now failing her. As the Smith was about to lay in a shot on Natasha's weakened armor and body an arrow, glowing with a strange green light, hit the Smith in the head. The Smith stumbled back for a moment and the gained his footing and looked up and past Natasha. The Smith saw nothing but the shadows, the quickly dimming green light, and the blood leaking from his wound. The Smith became enraged and put all of his efforts onto destroying the necromancer. This must be her fault. Somehow she was attacking him, trying to torment him. He readied his hammer for another attack and no arrow came to save Natasha this time. The Smith smiled with yellow stained teeth as he brought down the hammer for one final strike. As the Smith's hammer traveled downward he was engulfed in flames and fireballs cast from around the same direction that the arrow had come from. The Smith fell back crying in pain as the flames burnt and wore at his skin. The smith fell over crying out more as his skin burned and blackened under a constant barrage of fire from outside the room. The Smith tried to get to his feet and was then hit by the charging force of Mark and Alpha One. The sword of Alpha One tore deep into the Smith's burnt and weakened flesh. The Smith let out one last death cry as his body hit the ground, lifeless and motionless. The Smith's hammer had been burned and melted and was no longer unable. The Smith's body itself was unidentifiable other and the fact that it was stripped of most of it's flesh and what was left was black with ash. Natasha got up to inspect the body. The bones had been horribly mutilated and the creature could not be raised. It was truly a pity that the body couldn't be salvaged. Natasha examined the head with a special interest. There was no indication of the arrow or any of the damage that it had done. If the arrow had been there at all then it had been destroyed in the fury of fire. Natasha smiled a bit as she stepped on the body of the smith and made her way towards the stand that the Malice rested on. ~¤~  
  
~?AUTHOR NOTE: I have stopped writing this. I stopped a while ago because when I put the thing in it took out all of my paragraphs and just had it as one extremely long paragraph. In any case I do not currently believe that I have a current copy with all of the paragraphs separated and I don't feel like making it back to the 50 some odd pages I was at before this happened. As for the self insertion part of the story, that was what I felt like writing. If you want a story with mid-evil characters who are linked completely to where they are then you either missed the part where I had some characters from their or you need to be looking elsewhere. I'm sorry that you wasted your time reading something that I only wrote because I was bored and had nothing better to do.?~ 


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